Anett has lived and studied in different countries and has learned to appreciate the perks of living in a fully digital society. She believes that all processes and structures of public services should be accessible and simple for everyone. Based on her academic background in political science, she focuses on enhancing an excellent collaboration between the public and private sector to create a comprehensive and supportive environment. Besides this, she is now focusing on shaping cyber policies-building a substantial collaboration between different countries in countering and tackling cyber threats.

Iranga Kahangama serves as the Assistant Secretary for Cyber, Infrastructure, Risk, andResilience (CIRR) at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In this role, he advises
senior department officials and oversees the development of policy positions related to the fullrange of cyber, technology, infrastructure, and resilience issues.

Prior to his current role, Iranga served as the Federal Bureau of Investigation Cyber Division liaison to the National Security Council (NSC), where he was Director for Cyber Incident Response. In this role, he coordinated the federal government’s response across agencies in response to significant cyber incidents. His portfolio also included an array of domestic
cyber policy priorities as outlined in the National Cyber Strategy.

Prior to position with the NSC, he served as a policy advisor on an array of cyber, internet, and technology policy issues for the FBI. This included leading the FBI’s program on
internet governance, where he was part of the US delegation to various internet governance forums including the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). He
joined the FBI after earning his Master of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He grew up in the DC metro area and continues to be an avid DC sports
fan.

Larry F. Martinez is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the California State University at Long Beach.  After completing his Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1984, he joined the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce where he participated in developing the “rules of the road” for the first private international satellite networks. During his 1987-88 stint at the U.S. Department of Transportation, he directly participated in the issuance of the first licenses for what became the commercial launch industry. In 1988, he was appointed to the Department of Political Science at the California State University, Long Beach, where he taught international relations and law, with a research focus on cyber and outer space governance.  In 1998-99, Martinez was a Fulbright Senior Research fellow at the Center of Technology Assessment in Stuttgart, Germany.  His 2022 book chapter for the Oxford Handbook on Space Security, examines what happens to outer space governance as space communications becomes a cyberwar battlefield for global power in the 21st Century. He has lectured on Internet policy and governance in Britain, Germany, Kazakhstan, Morocco, and Ecuador. In 2007, he was a Cuesta College Honored Alumnus of the Year. In 2018, Martinez taught on the Spring 2018 Semester at Sea Voyage.

Kaarel Hanson is the space program manager of Guardtime, an Estonian deep-tech company with a mission to make the world’s data universally reliable. He has a technical background and has experience in working in different roles in IT, majority of time in the space domain. Kaarel has experience in hands-on satellite mission control software engineering up to leading space projects in the ground segment

Łukasz Pieczonka has more than 20 years of experience in IT sector, developing data transmission, monitoring and security systems. Since 2016 he became team leader in Newind company and he was responsible for research and development project, mainly in space-to-ground communication area, for the European Space Agency. During these works, the adaptation of terrestrial communication and security techniques into space domain were examined. The essential CCSDS standards in terms of secure communication were implemented and tested. During the research a numerous communication scenarios based on real mission control system and spacecraft simulation environment were done. The work results also influenced one of the newly elaborated CCSDS standard. Since 2022 Łukasz Pieczonka supports TTMS company in the space sector.

Mihkel Tikk is the Deputy Commander of Cyber Command in Estonian Defence Forces. His main areas of responsibility are Cyber and ICT operations and capability development. Previously Mr Tikk was Director of Cyber Policy and Information Technology Department at the Estonian Ministry of Defence. In addition to the development and implementation of cyber security and defence related policies, he also coordinated information security management throughout the MoD’s area of administration, including the Estonian Defence Forces. He was the representative of Estonia in various NATO and EU committees and at the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence.

Before joining the Ministry, Mr. Tikk designed business processes and e-services for the Estonian government. At the Estonian Information Systems Authority he was responsible for the development of Estonia’s State Portal, which has been acknowledged by the European Commission as the best State Portal in Europe.

Dr. Dan Bogdanov met his first significant privacy challenges while working with the data collection systems of the Estonian Genome Center. This inspired him to start researching cryptographic solutions for privacy problems. He is the inventor of Sharemind, a secure multi-party computation system for collecting, sharing and processing private data. Sharemind is a new kind of computer that analyses digital data without seeing the individual values. This achieves beyond-the-state-of-the-art data protection, as has been demonstrated in various applications processing tax, education, genomic and financial data. Dr. Bogdanov has been a research team lead for multiple privacy technology research projects with DARPA – an agency of the United States Department of Defense, European FP7 and Horizon 2020. Today, Dr. Bogdanov leads the Information Security Research Institute at Cybernetica, an Estonian company creating information security, e-Governance and maritime security solutions.

Pawel Fleischer  is a long-standing professional within the defence and space sector, where he have been involved in the implementation of projects for international institutions such as European Space Agency, NATO and the defence industry. Since 2018, he is an independent expert on European Defence Fund projects for the European Commission. Pawel often comments on international events in the world related to international security for Polish and international media.

Holger Lueschow took over responsibility as Programme Manager Satellite Communication and Project Officer Radio Spectrum in the European Defence Agency (EDA) on 1st July 2016.

In this function, the focus of his work in EDA lies on all SatCom related activities with particular attention to the Agencies GOVSATCOM Pooling and Sharing Demonstration Project and chairing the Project Team Satellite Communication of the Agency.

In addition to this, he took over in the last two years a wider role on space related topics including the support to the EDA Defence in Space Forum as new EDA working body.

Before his move to Brussels, he was an active staff officer in the German Air Force. Within his military career Holger worked on several posts in the CIS/IT domain ranging from IT-Security to procurement to spectrum policy. His national appointments have been complemented by a tour in the NATO Component Command Air in Izmir, Turkey, where he served in the Operations Branch of the A6 Division.

In the last six years before changing to the EDA, Holger served in the German Federal Ministry of Defence being responsible for the German national satellite communication programme, ComSatBw Stage 2, as well as the radio spectrum policy of the German Bundeswehr.”

Xavier Lobao Pujolar accumulates more than 35 years of professional experience in the space sector, primarily in satellite telecommunications. He joined the European Space Agency (ESA) in the year 2000 and has held since a number of different roles in the Telecommunications Department. Since 2012 he is the Head of the Future Projects Division, with responsibility over the setting up of new projects and initiatives in the telecommunication domain. In his position he overlooks trends in the telecommunication and satellite sector and tries to define the best supporting programmes to enhance industry’s competitiveness in the global market, mainly through Public-Private Partnerships. The role of satellite in 5G and 6G, Megaconstellations  and communications on the Moon are areas of strong focus currently, together with technological trends such as Optical communications, Quantum key distribution and optimisation in the usage of RF Spectrum for space systems. He graduated from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) as a Telecommunication Engineer (MSc), attended the International Space University (ISU) Summer Session Programme and holds a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the Rotterdam School of Management (RSM).

Priit Saar is the Head of Crisis Management Department in Minsitry of Economic Affairs and Communication. His area of responsibulity is to coordinate the ensuring of the continuity of the vital services: electricity supply, natural gas supply, liquid fuel supply, transportation services and ICT services. The data transmission and other ICT services have proved how important is their continuity and the satellite data services have become especially important.

Olli Ruutu took up the position of Deputy Chief
Executive of the European Defence Agency (EDA) on 16
March 2018. Previously Mr Ruutu served as Deputy
National Armaments Director at the Ministry of Defence of
Finland and Director of Materiel Unit at the Resource Policy
Department. Between 2009 and 2014 Mr Ruutu worked in
the Strategy and Policy Unit at the EDA. Between 2001 and
2009, Mr Ruutu worked for the Ministry of Defence of
Finland, the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Finland’s
Permanent Representation to the EU, and the Mission of
Finland to NATO.

Prof. Dr. Kai-Uwe Schrogl works as the Special Adviser for Political Affairs in the European Space Agency (ESA).He is the President of the International Institute of Space Law (IISL), the global association of space lawyers from more than 50 countries. He served as Chair of the Legal Subcommittee of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS), the highest body of space law making, from 2014 to 2016. He Most recently, he has been co-editing “A Research Agenda for Space Policy” at Edward Elgar Publishing.

Andreas Mauroschat has developed and run a number of successful partnership projects (50 M€ – 500 M€) with the European space industry, such as Neosat, Novacom I and II and HummingSat. His project teams are managing several projects with different prime contractors and their European and Canadian suppliers. These partnership projects are co-funded by the European Space Agency and consist of the development and in-orbit demonstration of state-of-the art space systems, mostly in cooperation with commercial operators. Andreas and his team are also involved in the development of Moonlight, a European Initiative to provide communication and navigation services for future missions to the Moon, as well as the management of the Greek Connectivity project.

Daniel Fischer is heading the Applications and Robotics Data Systems Section at the European Space Agency’s mission operations centre in Darmstadt, Germany. In close cooperation with industry, his team is developing and assessing space applications for innovative developments in the fields of cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual and Augmented Reality, and SmallSATs, among others. Dr. Fischer is involved in several cybersecurity activities within ESA, including international standardization, cybersecurity for ESA’s Space Safety Programme, ESA space missions security concepts, and other security activities related to systems engineering security.

Elise Olt is a Project Manager in the Estonian Space Office, Estonia’s delegate to the European Space Agency’s (ESA) International Relations Committee and adviser in ESA Council. Prior to her current role, she has worked in the European Union Affairs and International Co-operation Department at the Ministry of Social Affairs, as well as in the Estonian Embassy in Lisbon. Elise has an academic background in political science and governance, international law and global governance. She has been academically interested in small states and non-Western IR theories, as well as the concept of territoriality and non-legalities in IL. Professionally, she is now focusing on international space law and business diplomacy.

Dr. Mart Noorma is the director of NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence and Professor of Space and Defence Technology at the University of Tartu. Prior to joining CCDCOE, he has led innovation and digital transformation at several organizations. Mart Noorma has served as the Science and Development Director of Milrem Robotics and the Vice Rector of Academic Affairs at the University of Tartu. He has also worked at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Helsinki University of Technology, where he obtained the degree of the Doctor of Science in Technology in 2005.

Mart Noorma has been actively engaged in NATO, EU, and international cooperation on innovation and novel technology development. He has been a member of the NATO Advisory Group on Emerging and Disruptive Technologies, the NATO STO Applied Vehicle Technology Panel, the EEAS Space Advisory Board, and the IEEE Autonomous Weapon Systems Expert Advisory Committee.

Mart Noorma is a voluntary member of the Estonian Defence League.

Hendrik Hundt is working on accelerating the transfer to more sustainable energy future at a greentech start-up Rexplorer. Holding a environmental engineering M.Sc from TalTech I have in-depth background of working with environmental and satellite data from previously updating Estonian Gov databases and serving as a national delegate at ESA Earth Observation management board. Now in charge of developing renewable energy projects by combining infrastructure analysis with real-time modelling and satellite data.

Stefano Alberico is a technology visionary with 25 years of international experience, with a deep understanding of diverse cultural and business practices (lived in USA, Finland, India, and China before settling in Estonia). Very passionate about different technologies and the work he is doing, from cybersecurity to video editing, from tinkering with hardware to flying in the sky (with or without a simulator), from chip making to software architecture design. He is very problem solving oriented and prefers to setup a demo with a Raspberry Pi rather than only plan things on a PPT.

Giulia Pavesi is a researcher in International Law and International Space Law at the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies and at the Institute of International Law, KU Leuven, and holder of a FWO PhD Fundamental Fellowship. Giulia’s main fields of interest are space security, European space security, defence and security, law on the use of force and international humanitarian law, with a particular focus on hybrid warfare applied to the space domain. She is Teaching Assistant on the Law of International Organizations, European Legal Theory and Space Organizations. Giulia is also in charge of organizing, designing and moderating the yearly space lecture series (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022) on European and International space governance offered within the Master of Space Studies and the JMCE, providing a network for exchange among high-level professionals, academics from leading international institutions, students and civil society.

For GGS, Giulia also provides expertise in multi-stakeholders projects on Space Traffic Management, European space policy and European space security. Prior to joining  GGS, Giulia worked among others at the European GNSS Agency, the European Space Policy Institute and the Milan International Chamber of Arbitration. Giulia has also published on space security, European space policy, European space security and STM, international responsibility in space law and arbitration in space activities, and collaborated as a project assistant, speaker and moderator in International Conferences and roundtables on space security. Giulia is a member of the IISL and an alumna of IASD.

Paul Liias is Head of Space policy at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication. Paul has created the Estonian Space Policy and Program 2020-2027. Today he is working on Estonian national space legislation and a decentralized e-government solution for Space Traffic Management. Paul is part of the Estonian delegation to the European Space Agency and European Union Space Programme.

He has been engaged in various roles in the space sector for the past 13 years. In 2008 Paul joined the first Estonian satellite project ESTCube-1 and lead the development of mechanical systems. After the successful launch of ESTCube-1 in 2013 Paul continued as an entrepreneur in the space sector until 2016 when he joined the ministry.

David Evans instigated and now manages all ESA’s innovative “OPS-SAT Space Lab” nanosatellite missions. He started his career at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in 1992, working on EURECA, ERS-2 and CLUSTER-1. In 1997 he joined EUTELSAT as their satellite control centre manager. This was during a period of intense expansion of the fleet with 20 launches, 5 re-orbitings and the transformation from a gouvermental organisation into one of France’s most successful companies. In 2007 he returned to ESOC, specialising in small satellite mission operations. He is the holder of several ESA patents on housekeeping telemetry compression and the author of the popular “Ladybird Guide to Spacecraft Operations” lecture courses.

Frank Max Schubert graduated in 2007 in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany. From 2007 until 2011 he was member of the scientific staff at the Institute of Communications and Navigation of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). He worked partly in the Wave Propagation and Interaction Section at the European Space Agency (ESA) in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. He obtained the Ph.D. degree from Aalborg University, Denmark, in wireless communications in 2012. Subsequently he joined Airbus Defence and Space as system engineer and developed secure satellite navigation receivers. In 2018 he joined Airbus CyberSecurity and is the Head of Defence and Strategic Programs Germany.

He is representing Airbus CyberSecurity, a European specialist in cyber security. Their mission is to protect governments, military, organizations and critical national infrastructure from cyber threats.

Ignacio Chechile is the Chief Technology Officer at ReOrbit. ReOrbit is a startup established in 2019 and headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. ReOrbit designs and manufactures modular space systems prepared for the next decades of space exploration by adding autonomy, high-availability and broadband connectivity as built-in features.

Mathieu Bailly is heading the space activities at CYSEC, a cybersecurity company headquartered in Switzerland. Mathieu has spent his entire career in the space industry in sales and started realizing in 2018 that cybersecurity was going to become a major concern for the industry. Since then he has driven the development of CYSEC products for space and is also the co-founder and director of CYSAT.

KappaZeta is Earth Observation services company concentrating on radar technology and agricultural applications. Besides the agricultural and agri-insurance services vertical we are working to make the use of Sentinel-1 analysis ready data layers very easy to use for other companies ang government organisations. Together with CGI Estonia and Tartu Observatory we developed the first operational country-wide agricultural subsidy checks system in Europe, which is saving hundreds of thousands every year.

Ragnar Rattas is the architect and leader behind the technologies that create CybExer’s cyber range. Ragnar’s has previously led the Estonian critical information infrastructure protection from the Estonian Information System Authority. In this capacity, he planned and executed national level CII protection activities and related projects.

He has extensive organiser experience from world-leading cyber exercises conducted by the ENISA (Cyber Europe, Cyber Atlantic), the NATO (Cyber Coalition) and the NATO CCDCOE (Locked Shields and Crossed Swords). In the NATO CCDCOE Ragnar was the IT infrastructure leader for Locked Shields in 2016-2018 and was responsible for the development of the cyber range to enable highly sophisticated cyber-physical scenarios and exercise material (e.g. SCADA, 4G, HVAC). At the CCDCOE he also worked as a technical researcher and lecturer.

Kristo Allaje is an engineer at Tartu Observatory, University of Tartu, Estonia.
He received his B.Sc.Eng. in Computer Engineering and M.Sc.Eng. in Robotics and Computer Engineering, both from the University of Tartu.
Since September 2021, he is the lead systems engineer on the ESTCube-2 nanosatellite overseeing its development and mentoring new aspiring space engineers.

Sille Kraam works at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications as deputy secretary general for economic development. Her portfolio is very diverse and wide, starting with leading Estonian industrial policy, attracting foreign investments, developing space technologies, innovation, and ensuring access to credit and risk capital. In short, the mission in the ministry is to ensure that Republic of Estonia is a good environment to operate in as an entrepreneur. Previously, she worked in the ministry as the head of space sector, the head of the business sector and the head of the economic development department.

Stefano Serva is the Space Programme Accreditation and Security Engineering Manager at the European Space Agency. His main duties, within the ESA Security Office, deal with the security of the Space Programmes of the Agency, monitoring they implement an adequate security risk management process and proper security measures to achieve the needed security assurance level. His previous experience was in the Defence sector, where he was technical responsible of satellite remote sensing systems and within the Galileo Competent PRS Authority, where he was Deputy of the Italian Head.

Commandant (OF-3) Rónán O’Flaherty, on secondment from the Irish Defence Forces to the National Cyber Security Centre, is a Researcher in the Operations Branch at the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Tallinn since November 2020.

Commandant O’Flaherty holds a MSc in Strategic Management and Planning from Smurfit Business School and has recently completed a MSc in Forensics Computing and Cybercrime Investigation from University College Dublin.

Clémence Poirier is a Resident Fellow seconded by CNES (the French Space Agency) at the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) in Vienna, Austria. She has expertise in topics at the intersection of space and cybersecurity policy as she conducted policy research on the militarization of outer space and cyberspace, the cybersecurity of the French space infrastructure, the applicability of personal data protection laws to satellite imagery, etc. She is also a member of the Space Generation Advisory Council’s Space and Cybersecurity Project Group. She holds a master’s degree in International Relations, International Security, and Defense from University Jean Moulin Lyon 3, France.