McGill Team

Dr. Ram Jakhu holds a tenured position of Associate Professor at the Institute of Air and Space Law, Faculty of Law, McGill University. He is also the Director of the Institute of Air and Space Law and of the Centre for Research in Air and Space Law of McGill University. He teaches and conducts research in international space law, law of space applications, law of space commercialization, space safety and security, national regulation of space activities, law of telecommunications, and public international law.

He has taught Space Law and Policy in several countries; made presentations to the United Nations Committee of Peaceful Uses of Outer Space; participated in the drafting of Space Law Curriculum for the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs; advised several countries in the preparation of national laws and policies, including National Space Law and Policy for South Africa and India; convened and participated numerous international interdisciplinary space law and policy related conferences and workshops around the world; and currently heads a multi-million dollars research and outreach program for space law and policy.

Professor Jakhu is a Member of the Global Agenda Council on Space of the World Economic Forum; the Governance Group of the Space Security Index; and Fellow as well as the Chairman of the Legal and Regulatory Committee of the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety. He is Managing Editor of the Space Regulatory Series, member of the Editorial Boards of Space and Evolution, Annals of Air & Space Law, Astropolitics, and German Journal of Air & Space Law. He has co-authored two books, over 80 articles and 20 research reports and edited 6 books.

He was member of the Advisor Group of Legal Experts on Optional Rules for Arbitration of Disputes Relating to Outer Space within the Permanent Court of Arbitration, and the Board of Directors of International Institute of Space Law for 14 years. In 2007, he received a "Distinguished Service Award" from the International Institute of Space Law for significant contribution to the development of space law.

Ram Jakhu holds Doctor of Civil Law (Dean's Honors List) and Master of Law (LL.M.) degrees from McGill University, Canada as well as LL.M., LL.B., and B.A. degrees from Panjab University, India.

Bayar Goswami is a Doctoral Fellow at the Institute of Air and Space Law, McGill University (IASL). He finished his first law degree in the year 2015, with distinction and honors in Business Laws from the Institute of Law, Nirma University, India. Thereafter, he pursued LL.M. in Air and Space Law from the IASL where he wrote a thesis titled “Theorizing Cosmic Environmental Law” dealing with cosmology and studying the Anthropocene epoch vis-à-vis the International Environmental and Space law. 

In addition to other awards and fellowships, Bayar is a recipient of the Erin J.C. Arsenault Fellowship awarded by McGill University for both his LL.M. and DCL and additionally was also awarded the Assad Kotaite Graduate and Postdoctoral Fellowship by the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization in 2017. He has worked as an Indian delegate to represent India’s legal position at the 39th Triennial Assembly Session of the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization held in October, 2016.

Bayar serves as the Research Coordinator for the McGill Manual on International Law Applicable to Military Uses of Outer Space (MILAMOS). He has been a Research Assistant at the IASL since 2015 and has contributed to key projects undertaken at the institute like the International Study on Global Space Governance and the Space Security Index, 2016 and 2017 (SSI).

He is passionate about triggering dialogues which challenge the developmental paradigm, particularly at the onset of modern space age. He has been a TEDx speaker and is keen on participating in interactive platforms to engage in conversations involving social sciences of the outer space.

Mr. Kuan-Wei (David) Chen holds an undergraduate degree in Law and Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, an LLM (cum laude) in Public International Law from Leiden University and an LLM in Air and Space Law from the Institute of Air and Space Law, McGill University, where he was also the Boeing Fellow in Air and Space Law. He attended the International Space University Space Studies Programme (2008) and was a recipient of the Nicolas Mateesco Matte Prize.

He was previously a Teaching and Research Assistant at the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Development, Leiden University; and the Co-ordinator of the Telders International Law Moot Court at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies. Kuan-Wei was the former Editor of the Annals of Air and Space Law (2012-2015), and is currently the Executive Director of the McGill Centre for Research in Air and Space Law, and a Sessional Lecturer at the Faculty of Law of McGill University.

 Dr. Setsuko AOKI is Professor of Law, Keio University Law School, Japan since April 2016. She specializes in public international law especially space law, arms control and export control. She obtained Doctor of Civil Law (D.C.L.) from McGill University, Montreal, Canada in 1993. She is a member of the Committee on National Space Policy (CNSP), Cabinet Office of Japan since July 2012. Her recent publication in English includes “Identifying the Scope of the Applicable International Law Rules towards Malicious Cyber Activities against Space Assets”, in Proceedings of the International Institute of Space Law 2018(2019). Dr. Setsuko has   

authored around 150 articles in space law, non-proliferation, export control and international health law in Japanese and English. 

A member of the Austrian diplomatic service Peter JANKOWITSCH represented Austria as Ambassador i.a. at the United Nations and in the UN Security Council (New York), at the OECD (Paris) and at the European Space Agency as well as at a large number of international conferences and meetings. As Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minster of State for Europe he was a member of Austrian governments, having also been elected to the Austrian Parliament, where he chaired i.a. the Committee on Foreign Relations of the National Assembly. Chair of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space from 1972 to 1991 he led the Austrian delegation to UNISPACE 82 and was a member of the bureau of UNISPACE 1999.A co-founder of EURISY and trustee of IAA, he currently chairs the Supervisory Board of ASA, the Austrian Space Agency. He received, i.a. the Allen D. Emil Award for International Co-operation in Astronautics (1981) and the Social Sciences Award of the International Academy for Astronautics (2001).

Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Stephan Hobe is a Professor for German Public Law, Europe-an Law and Public International Law and Director of the Institute of Air Law, Space Law and Cyber Law as well as Director at Law Centre of European Integration Co-operation at the University of Cologne. Moreover, he is Holder of the Chair for Public International Law, European Law, European and International Economic Law as well as Jean-Monnet Professor for the Law of European Integration. Professor Hobe is also the Managing Director of the International Investment Centre Cologne. In 2017, he became Co-Director of the Cologne Research Center for National and In-ternational Sports Law, and in 2018 of the Research Centre for Law and Ethics of Digital Transformation, both at the University of Cologne.

In 2017, Professor Hobe was Director of the Centre for Excellence at The Hague Academy of International Law.  In 2018 Stephan Hobe was conferred with Honorary Degree Doctor Honoris Causa of Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski.

He is also Vice Chairman of the German Society for International Law, is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Institute of Space Law, the committee of the European Air Law Association, and several scientific academies. 

Furthermore, Stephan Hobe is the editor of the German Journal of Air and Space Law, ZLW and member of several scientific associations, namely: International Institute of Space Law, European Center for Space Law, special rapporteur and designated rapporteur of the space law committee of the International Law Association, heading the special working group on air and space law of the ILA German Branch, membre titulaire of Académie française de l’Air et de l’Espace and member of American Society of International Law as well as nominated by Germany as ICSID Arbitrator. 

Stephan Hobe also teaches as an honorary and visiting professor at the law faculties of the Universities in Pretoria (South Africa), Sofia (Bulgaria), Gujarat and Bangalore (India), the Beijing Institute of Technology and Beihang as well as at Xiamen University in China, the University of Lazarski in Warsaw, Poland, and the University of Paris XI (Paris Sud) in France. 

Scientifically Prof. Hobe stands out with a textbook on International Law, one on European Law and one on Space Law, as well as about 350 articles on various areas of international law.

The special research interests include international law in the age of globalization, future legal questions of European integration, new challenges of space law and the special challenges posed by digitization and cyber technology. Thanks to his wide network of international relationships, Prof. Hobe is an internationally acclaimed expert in air and space law. 

 Dr. Ranjana Kaul is Partner in Dua Associates, a leading law firm in India. She specializes in the international law of outer space and related national policies and regulations applicable to space sector and downstream space technology business verticals. 

Dr Kaul believes that meaningful private sector participation in outer space activities is critical for the country going forward. She provides comprehensive multi sectoral advisory on Indian policy and applicable laws for setting up businesses in India. She has served in the Supreme Court of India as Counsel for the State of Maharashtra and in the High Court of Delhi as Counsel for the Union of India in the High Court of Delhi.  

She is a widely published, nationally and internationally, on matters related to law of outer space particularly in context to India. She is an invited speaker at restricted audience events in India and is regularly consulted on issues related to application of international law of outer space to India. Dr Kaul is an affiliate of the International Institute of Space Law, Paris; Space & Satellite Professional International ( India) and Women in Aviation International (India). Dr. Kaul holds an LLM from the Institute of Air & Space Law, Faculty of Law, McGill University, Canada; Doctorate from University of Poona and Bachelors in Law degree from the University of Delhi in India. She can be reached at ranjanakaul@duaassociates.com 

Tanja Masson-Zwaan is Asst. Professor and Deputy Director of the International Institute of Air and Space Law at Leiden University, and President Emerita of the International Institute of Space Law (IISL).

Tanja advises various bodies on space law issues, teaches and supervises students at Bachelors, Masters and PhD level, carries out research and publishes on a broad range of space law topics. She co-authored the 4th edition of ‘Introduction to Space Law’ (Kluwer 2019) and serves on the Board of Editors of Kluwer’s journal Air and Space Law. 

Tanja is member of a team of experts advising the Dutch government on the implementation of the Netherlands Space Activities Act. She attends the annual sessions of the Legal Subcommittee of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space as an observer, and co-founded the Hague Space Resources Governance Working Group

Dr. P.J. Blount (Ph.D., Global Affairs, Rutgers University, 2016; M.S., Global Affairs, Rutgers University, 2015; LL.M., Public International Law, King's College London, 2007; J.D., University of Mississippi School of Law, 2006; B.A./A.B.J., University of Georgia, 2002) is a Research Fellow in Cybersecurity Governance and Regulation at SES and the University of Luxembourg. His research is funded through a generous Industrial Fellowship grant from the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He has also serves as an adjunct professor in the LL.M. in the Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi School of Law, and in Fall of 2017 he was a Visiting Scholar at the Beijing Institute of Technology School of Law.

Blount's primary research areas are legal issues related to space security and cyberspace governance. He has published and presented widely on the topic of space security law and has given expert testimony on space traffic management before the U.S. House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Space. Blount serves as the co-editor-in-chief of the Proceedings of the IISL, and he was formerly the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Space Law. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Institute of Space Law and a member of the State Bar of Georgia in the United States.

Dr. Catherine Doldirina is a space law expert and works as the Legal Counsel of D-Orbit, an Italian NewSpace company. Her expertise lies in the field of intellectual property law and space activities, general questions of space law, as well as legal and policy issues regarding access and use of various types of data. She worked as a researcher at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (Italy), is the former Chair of Space Generation Advisory Council and an active member of the International Institute of Space Law. She is engaged in legal research related to space activities since 2005. In 2011 she defended her PhD thesis entitled “Remote sensing data and the common good” at the Institute of Air & Space Law, McGill University (Montreal, Canada). She lectured on European competition law, European copyright law and space law at various universities in Canada and Europe. She authors work on various aspects of space law. 

Marco Ferrazzani is the Legal Counsel and Head of the Legal Services department at the European Space Agency, based at its headquarters in Paris, France. In this position, he is providing a full range of legal services to the Agency particularly in matters of both public and private law, working on the legal and programmatic aspects of space missions, contributing to the development of ESA policy and participating in the high-level negotiations of international agreements.

As ESA’s Legal Counsel, he is the advisor to the ESA Director General and to the ESA Council for all institutional and legal matters, including the interpretation of the ESA Convention and all relevant legal instruments. In addition to managing a team of international legal officers his role as Head of the Legal Services department at ESA is to advise ESA’s organs and its Member States, on a day-to-day basis, at the ESA Council meetings and ESA Ministerial, on a wide variety of legal matters. These include protecting and defending ESA’s rights and position, identifying risks and devising legal solutions to mitigate these, preparing in the drafting of agreements, conducting international negotiations as well as preparing institutional decisions, resolutions, declarations and other legal instruments for the execution of European space programmes. In this capacity, he is advising on multilateral discussions, draft proposals for Member States’ decisions on space programs and strongly support cooperation with other space agencies, international organizations as well as the governments and institutions of states outside of ESA. In this context, he is also advisor to the ESA Organs on the ESA – EU cooperative relationship, means he liaises with the EU and its institutions; supporting DG and Directorates in the elaboration of Agreements with the EU institutions and agencies.

In his current function he is representing ESA at international conferences. Marco Ferrazzani is the Head of Delegation to the Legal Sub-Committee of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS). As a guest lecturer at various university courses on the international law of space activities, an area of law on which he has also authored numerous papers at conferences and articles in law and policy journals, he provides insights into this highly relevant field of law. Moreover, he is sitting on a number of boards including those of the European Centre for Space Law (ECSL) and the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) as well as a member of the French Society of International Law (Société française pour le droit international) as well as fellow of the Salzburg Global Seminar.

Deborah is the Chief Legal Officer and VP Regulation for Konfidas Digital Ltd., a leading Israeli cybersecurity and data protection consulting firm, advising on high-level strategies for legal planning and regulatory compliance in the areas of corporate governance, cyber preparedness and data protection. Her expertise focuses on cybersecurity and outer space law and regulation, and the confluence between them. Deborah’s experience at the international level includes her work as a Core Expert on the Manual on International Law Applicable to Military Uses of Outer Space (MILAMOS) project, as Chair of Working Group D of the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise, and as a member of two of the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace Research Advisory Groups. She was a member of the International Group of Experts that drafted the 2017 Tallinn 2.0 manual on state activity in cyberspace. Deborah is currently a member of the advisory board for the Hebrew University Cyber Security Research Center; and a research fellow at the IDC Herzliya’s Institute for Counter-Terrorism. She teaches at Hebrew University Law School and the Herzliya IDC, and has served as a guest lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Exec Ed Program on Cybersecurity: The Intersection of Policy and Technology. In 2011, Deborah co-chaired the Regulation and Policy Committee of the National Cyber Initiative launched by the Prime Minister’s Office; and in 2013-4 served on the National Cyber Bureau’s Public Committee on the Cyber Professions. She is currently researching innovative, polycentric regulatory models for information sharing to mitigate cyber threats.

Emeritus Professor of Public Law in the French Universities, he taught International Public Law, especially Space Law and Law of the Sea at the Universities of Western Brittany and Paris XI. He taught in other French and foreign universities on many occasions, published books and articles on European and International Law especially Space Law and Law of the Sea. 

He advises for Space Law International Organisations, Governments and Companies.

He was, inter alia, a member of the French delegation to UN COPPUOS, A member of the working group of the French Conseil d'Etat  drafting the French law on space activities. He is the Vice chairman of the European Centre for Space Law of the European Space Agency (ECSL/ESA), the President of the Association for the Development of Space Law in France, the Chairman of the Institute of Law of International Spaces and Telecommunications (Brittany); a member of the board of Directors of the International Institute of Space Law, a Member of the Space Law Committee of the International Law Association (ILA)  and a member of the Société francaise de droit aérien et spatial (SFDAS). He is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics and a corresponding member of the Académie de l'Air et de l'Espace, an officer of the order of the "Palmes Academiques".

 

Prof. Dr. Philip De Man is Assistant Professor at the Master in Air and Space Law, University of Sharjah, UAE and a Visiting Professor in space law at the Advanced Master of Science in Space Studies of the University of Leuven, Belgium. In addition, he is currently a member of the Belgian delegation of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space - Legal Subcommittee, Associate Editor of the MILAMOS project for a Manual on International Law Applicable to Military Uses of Outer Space, and a member of the editorial board of the McGill Encyclopaedia on International Space Law. He has published widely on a variety of topics in international and European law, including international and national space law, international humanitarian law, security and cyber law, the law of the European union and the law of international organisations.

 

Professor of Space Law at Sapienza University of Rome, General Counsel of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), Chairman of the European Centre for Space Law (ECSL/ESA), Member of the Advisory Council of the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI). Since 2019 Adjunct Professor of International Law at LUISS University and at the University of International Studies of Rome (UNINT). Scientific Responsible of the two research projects at Sapienza founded from external resources: a) OSL - Outer Space Law for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development, funded by the Italian Space Agency, 2020-22;b) HABITABLE - Linking Climate Change, Habitability and Social Tipping Points: Scenarios for Climate Migration, funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020, 2020-2024 (LC-CLA-05-2019: Human dynamics of climate change). Full list of publications on iris.uniroma1.it Member of the Board of Directors of the Italian Space Agency (2014-2018).

Legal Counsellor at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Italian Delegate to many international diplomatic conferences, such as the UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court (Rome, 1998) and on the 2001 UNIDROIT Convention on International Interests in High Value Mobile Equipment (cape Town 2001). Chair of the Committee of Governmental Experts for the Space Assets Protocol (2001-2012). Chair of the Commission of the Whole of the Berlin Diplomatic Conference. Since 2013, Chair of the Space Preparatory Commission for the International Registry for Space Assets. 

Since 1997, Italian delegate to the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) where he served as Chairman of the Legal Subcommittee (2004-2006), and Delegate to the Working Group on the Long-Term Sustainability of the Outer Space Activities (LTS 2010-2019) acting as Co-chair of Expert Group D (Regulatory Frameworks).  Italian Delegate to the EU Council’s CODUN (2007-2015) and Member of the EEAS-EU Task Force for an International Code of Conduct on Outer Space Activities (ICoC). Chair of the multilateral negotiations on an ICoC held at the UN in New York (July 2015).  Member of the UN Group of Governmental Experts on Outer Space Transparency and Confidence-Building Measures (GGE on TCBMs (2011-2013). In 2018-19, Member of the UN Group of Governmental Experts on Practical Measures for the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space (GGE on PAROS). 

Since 2012, Member of the Specialized Panel of Arbitrators pursuant to the Optional Rules for Arbitrations of disputes dealing with space matters of the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
 

Ms. Elina Morozova is Head of International Legal Service at the Intersputnik International Organization of Space Communications, where she specializes in the field of international and national (Russian) space law and satellite telecommunications. Elina earned two master’s degrees in International Law and World Economy from the All-Russian Academy of Foreign Trade under the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation and holds an LL.M degree in International Business Law from the University of Manchester. 

Elina is Associate Editor and Core Expert of the McGill Manual on International Law Applicable to Military Uses of Outer Space (MILAMOS). She also holds membership of Legal Council of For All Moonkind, Inc., takes part in the work of the Expert Committee of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly – Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications, and sits on the Board of Directors of the International Institute of Space Law. 

Elina has developed and teaches a course on international space and telecommunication law at the Faculty of Law of St Petersburg University (Russia), and is the author (co-author) of publications on these subjects in English and Russian.

In 2018, Stuart Eves founded his own space consultancy company, SJE Space Ltd, after spending 16 years with the UK Ministry Of Defence, and 14 years with Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL).

His recent book “Space Traffic Control”, describes the measures needed to maintain the space environment and protect satellites from both natural hazards and man-made threats. 

Stuart has an MSc in Astrophysics, a PhD in satellite constellation design, and has been a fellow of both the Royal Astronomical Society and the British Interplanetary Society for more than 25 years. 

Jonathan McDowell is an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He studies black holes and quasars, and manages the group which plans and tests science analysis software for the Chandra X-ray space telescope. McDowell's publications include studies of cosmology, black holes, galaxies, quasars, and asteroids. He is also the editor of Jonathan's Space Report, a free internet newsletter founded in 1989 covering technical details of satellite launches, and of the planet4589.org web site which includes the General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects.

Dr. McDowell has a B.A in Mathematics (1981) and a Ph.D in Astrophysics (1987) from the University of Cambridge, England. Minor planet (4589) McDowell is named after him.