Sahba El-Shawa

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Bio

Sahba El-Shawa is a PhD researcher specializing in the intersections between space and sustainability. She holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of British Columbia, an MSc in Space Studies from the International Space University, and is currently completing her PhD in Sustainable Development and Climate Change at IUSS Pavia. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on the use of emerging technologies like VR and AI to increase accessibility to space-derived knowledge for sustainability applications and policymaking.

During her studies, she collaborated with the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) on robotics research and completed an internship as a systems engineer at the European Space Agency’s Clean Space initiative focusing on the environmental impacts of space activities, both on Earth and in space. Now, as a Visiting Researcher at the ESA Φ-lab, she aims to use EO and AI for environmental impact assessment through the analysis of Essential Climate Variables in critical sustainability contexts.

As a social entrepreneur, Sahba founded the Jordan Space Research Initiative, which bridges sustainability with space exploration through analog research, and the Palestine Space Institute, a think tank advocating for the ethical use of space technologies. She is also an analog astronaut and has received multiple awards for her work, including the International Astronautical Federation's Emerging Space Leaders Award in 2023.