I am Professor of practice in Space Policy and International Affairs at the International Space University (ISU) seconded by the European Space Agency (ESA). Prior to this appointment at ISU, I have been the first Head of International Affairs at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) that is the national research institute for aeronautics and space and acts on behalf of the German government as the German space agency.

The objective of my PhD, under the direction of Douglas Robinson, is to build on, and make further contributions to, the body of knowledge on the specific mechanisms of transformative change and innovation policies, through the development of an original conceptual framework building from the innovation ecosystems perspective that combines an analysis of the public, private actors in the space sector. My interest is to explore the new actors that are emerging in the ecosystem, whether they are bringing with them new ways of doing R&I, or rather, new innovation regimes and what are the ramifications for public actors (like, but not limited to, national space agencies) who wish to steer, enable and constrain elements of the space ecosystem.