I am responsible for External Relations at the European Southern Observatory (ESO), which is an intergovernmental organisation for astronomy founded in 1962. It's identical in legal form to ESA and CERN, where member states sign an international treaty to join and pay a defined fee related to GDP. We are currently building the world's largest optical/IR ground-based telescope - the ELT, which will come online towards the end of this decade.

I work primarily on our government relations managing a range of key stakeholder relationships with our funders, the EU, UN, and main science organisations, and also dealing with certain strategic issues affecting the organisation. This work ranges from simple tasks to organising high-level visits by Ministers, Ambassadors or even Heads of State, supporting the Director General and leadership with presentations, speeches, and advice, to more complex and involved tasks like creating partnership agreements with other organisations or governments, and deciding what our position should be on various science policy topics.

One of my favourite roles is to act as ESO's representative in the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). In recent years, we've been working with other astronomy organisations at COPUOS to advocate for the protection of dark and quiet skies in the era of satellite mega-constellations.

I would call my day to work on this portfolio as "Space sustainability leadership" - a number of connected but disparate activities to ensure that the future landscape for astronomy is supportive and that space companies and governments are bearing in mind the needs of space and ground observatories.

We engage at COPUOS, the Long Term Sustainability Working Group, the EU Committee on Radio Astronomy Frequencies, and various national groups looking at the topic. Recently I became co-lead of the policy hub of a new centre set up by the International Astronomical Union to protect the dark and quiet skies. All this work involves keeping up with the ever-evolving landscape of satellite technologies and policies, defining our key aims and messages, and having many discussions with policymakers involved in all these forums. We've had to convince a lot of people that we can protect dark and quiet skies and keep space industry at the same time. I've particularly enjoyed the interactions we've had with the main space companies such as SpaceX, OneWeb and Amazon.

To really excel in government relations / public affairs type roles requires a sound understanding of how governments operate and how policy issues ebb and flow. My PhD work in public policy has been invaluable to understand these dynamics and produce practical results such as the value of key messaging and timing, formulating a government relations strategy, and the mechanics of advocacy - particularly in certain policy systems such as the European Union. I'm also lucky to have worked in a unique role at NATO, advising senior commanders on key policy issues affecting the organisation and designing strategic thinking processes.

These skills and knowledge can absolutely be picked up over time, but those coming from a scientific or engineering background may not immediately appreciate some of the nuances.

Critical to this effort, however, is the ability to work with technical experts. I'm lucky to have originally started out as a physicist and therefore am not scared off by technical details. Nevertheless, an government relations strategy of policy position has to be informed by technical, engineering, or business needs or constraints.

The space sector is hugely exciting and inspirational. I believe it will only grow in significance and that opportunities for government and industry careers will increase. Yet, there are substantial challenges to solve relating to ESG concerns on Earth, space sustainability issues in LEO and now Cislunar space, and very difficult issues relating to governance, regulation and international coordination and cooperation. Future policy advisors will have to figure out challenging questions like: how does an AI-run space traffic management system affect the liability regime and insurance for spacecraft? Or who is in charge of this object that was manufactured in space?

Companies will need lawyers, policy advisors, experts in space sustainability, communications, and of course government relations experts to ensure that new regulation is business friendly. There are many academic opportunities both in traditional institutions and online MOOCs to learn about the space sector, which can complement a law / poli-sci / business / international relations degree. To a large degree, experience in Earth-based industry is transferable to the space sector.

Another angle to consider is that many industries are realising they need a space strategy, whether in terms of how to leverage the abundance of EO data or how to use space-based comms services. I'm sure that more and more space policy / law / comms jobs will be available in traditionally Earth-bound companies.