NESCA Awardee Projects

Geopolitical Analysis in Space Domain Awareness

Project Lead: Bleddyn Bowen
Institution: Durham University
Partner: 3S Northumbria
Amount: £55989.72
Theme: Space Sustainability

This project will appoint a Postdoctoral Research Associate (PDRA) at the Space Research Centre at Durham University for interdisciplinary political-technical analysis of Space Domain Awareness (SDA) in partnership with 3S Northumbria. It seeks to build bridges between quantitative technical space tracking work and qualitative geopolitical net assessments to address existing gaps in technical and non-technical SDA capabilities, and how to address permanent uncertainty in SDA analysis, Understanding intent and managing uncertainty require geopolitical insight, and resilient space communications and space sustainability need multidisciplinary space researchers that can straddle the technical and political worlds to develop more holistic analytical skills.

More about the Project Lead:
Dr Bleddyn Bowen is Associate Professor of Astropolitics at the School of Government and International Affairs (SGIA), and Co-Director of the Space Research Centre (SPARC) at Durham University. He is space policy, politics, defence, and security. He is the author of two monographs: Original Sin: Power, Technology, and War in Outer Space (Hurst, 2022) and War in Space: Strategy, Spacepower, Geopolitics (Edinburgh University Press, 2020); and multiple peer-reviewed articles. Dr Bowen's research focuses on spacepower and strategic theory; space policy and politics; military space history and contemporary defence strategy in space; technology and modern warfare; international relations, security, and intelligence. Dr Bowen has advised, presented, and briefed for many government agencies and offices, including the UK Prime Minister’s Policy Unit, the US National Space Council, the US Space Force, the European Space Agency, UK Ministry of Defence, UK Space Agency, the UK Parliament, and the Japanese Cabinet Office.