Scottish Space Academic Forum (SSAF)

Background

The Scottish Space Academic Forum (SSAF) formed in 2021 with the aim of providing a forum for Scottish HEIs to share information, engage in constructive discussion and speak as a collective voice on all matters related to space. The ambition is that this Forum will act as a neutral broker, advocating for the Scottish space HEI sector in all its breadth, promoting national capacity and capabilities and ensuring we maintain an inclusive, collaborative and successful community in Scotland.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/scottish-space-academic-forum/

Purpose

The Forum will:

provide a non-judgmental, collaborative place to promote the ongoing space-related activity of Scottish HEIs in the space sectors in all its breadth.
support briefing for Scottish academic delegates to national and international committees on space and satellite issues, as required.
provide critical appraisal of the evidence base underpinning development of Scottish Government activities and investments related to space and satellites in the Scottish HEI sector, and other related local, national or international activities, as appropriate.
provide advice on current and potential future national space and satellite projects, programmes or facilities as an input to Scottish Government, and Scottish HE decisions, taking account of the factors listed above; noting that the Forum can call upon other expert bodies.
provide advice on the promulgation of the scientific, commercial and public service opportunities arising from the Scottish academic community and identify, where possible, potential collaborative funding routes for research, knowledge exchange, commercial and public service applications and technological spinoff.

As described in the Scottish Governments “A Strategy for Space in Scotland (2021)”, the space sector in Scotland is represented by industry under the banner of Space Scotland, the government via the Scottish Space Group (SSG) and academia under the auspices of the Scottish Space Academic Forum (SSAF).

SSAF been established as an initiative and management forum aimed at ensuring alignment across research, development and education to provide support to maximise the research potential of Team Scotland for world class innovation and economic growth.

The Forum and its members will ensure community-wide engagement, including attendance at workshops and conferences throughout the year, and by broadly engaging with HEIs and other research organisations in Scotland will help to inform Committee discussions. At such meetings there is usually no restriction on attendance enabling a wide set of views to be gathered.

The relationship between academia and industry is critical in terms of accelerating the technical readiness levels of innovation – from R&D through to system certified solutions which are available for full commercial deployment.

In addition, our academic institutions have a truly international reach and unique relationships with UK and overseas research centres which can be used to develop research partnerships, underpinned by a funding landscape which is well understood by academia.

Furthermore, a key feature of academia’s contribution to Team Scotland will be to take a future view of the nature of the developing space landscape, thus facilitating the development of the appropriate skills required to help deliver the desired outcomes. This will be accomplished in conjunction with our academic infrastructure and allied agencies e.g., Skills Development Scotland. Attracting overseas students and inspiring the next generation of engineers and scientists, who are essential for seeding new business start-ups and playing a key role in the delivery of our Space Strategy, will be fundamental challenges that our academic institutions are best served to address.

Contacts:

Chair: Prof. Iain Woodhouse, University of Edinburgh, [email protected]

Deputy Chair: Prof. Malcolm Macdonald, University of Strathclyde, [email protected]

Representatives:

Dundee: Mark Cutler [email protected]

Edinburgh: Iain Woodhouse [email protected]

Matjaz Vidmar [email protected]

Glasgow: Colin McInnes [email protected]

Patrick Harkness [email protected]

Kevin Worrall [email protected]

Heriot-Watt: Valentina Lo Gatto [email protected]

George Goussetis [email protected]