Championing Space at the UK Space Agency with Professor Anu Ojha OBE

5 September 2023 (13:00 - 14:30) Webinar

WATCH BACK ON DEMAND

Space is integral to our modern lives. Space infrastructure underpins how we communicate, how we go about our day-to-day activities, and how we monitor our planet and its weather and climate; it's a vital component in a diverse range of sectors, from agriculture to marine safety, too. Space is also where we find the inspiration to explore distant worlds and study the workings of the Universe. But communicating this importance remains a key challenge right across the space sector, at all levels - with the general public, wider science community and policymakers/political leaders.

In this special webinar, Professor Anu Ojha OBE, the UK Space Agency's new Director of Championing Space, introduced his directorate within the Agency, and the teams helping bring space to the fore. He outlined his philosophy of how space is a 'must have' not simply a 'nice to have' and explored the work the Agency is doing to educate, inspire and engage on a national and international level operationally and strategically.

About Professor Ojha OBE

Professor Anu Ojha OBE is a member of the Executive Committee of the UK Space Agency and Director for the Championing Space Directorate. Included in his portfolio are leadership of the Agency's International and ESA Policy teams as well as UKSA's public/parliamentary affairs, communications and education/skills development/inspiration programmes.

Prior to joining the Agency in May 2023 he was the founder of the UK National Space Academy programme and a Director of the National Space Centre. Appointed Honorary Professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester in 2016, he has been a co-investigator in the University's programme for nuclear power applications for space exploration, was involved in data analysis from ESA's Rosetta, Mars Express and SOHO missions and was Principal Investigator for the ESA/UKSA Astro Academy Principia education experiment suite conducted by Tim Peake during his mission to the International Space Station.

From 2018 to 2023 he was a member of ESA's Human Spaceflight and Exploration Science Advisory Committee (HESAC) based at ESTEC. He was a member of the final site selection team for the ESA Rosalind Franklin mission targeted for the Oxia Planum region of Mars and has helped develop ESA's science exploration strategies for the ESA Terra Novae programme. Since 2020 he has supported MOD Space Directorate and UK Space Command in a number of areas related to skills development and international perspectives through his long-standing experience as a member of the UK-China Joint Laboratory in Space Science and Technology and is a current member of STFC Council. He was also invited by the UK Secretary of State for Defence to contribute to the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy.