NEWS & ACTIVITIES
Abstract submission deadline 7 September 2025. Workshop co-hosted by EU COST Action FOGOS, ERC PlanetStewards Project, Earth-Space Sustainability Network, and Space in Time on October 16–17, 2025 at Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University.
20 Aug 2025
The summary paper from the workshop on Space Sustainability: Bridging Initiatives and Perspectives was published. The workshop was organised by the Secure World Foundation, EPFL Space Center, EU COST FOGOS, ERC PlanetStewards, ITU, and Switzerland’s FDFA. The event examined governance challenges such as orbital debris, resource use, and equity in space.
July 2025
In May 2025, PhD researcher Blake Harvey represented the PlanetStewards Project at the ‘Mission Sustainable: Ensuring Earth-Space Human Activities are Sustainable by Default’ workshop, hosted at the Surrey Space Centre. The workshop brought together a mix of scientists, legal scholars, engineers, entrepreneurs, and policy experts to explore how human activities in space can become sustainable by default.
30 June 2025
EU COST ACTION FOGOS (Action “Futures-oriented Governance of Outer Space”) convened a workshop at the University of Lisbon to start the development. Dr.Xiao-Shan Yap presented Earth-sapce sustainability and the PlanetStewards project.
26 June 2025
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Dr. Xiao-Shan Yap spoke on the panel of International Telecommunication Union (ITU)’s Space Connect webinar “Can operators safely sustain the space boom?” explored how escalating satellite launches strain orbital safety, security, and sustainability. Experts stressed a holistic lifecycle approach—from design to deorbiting—highlighting active debris removal, regulatory tools, and resilient systems as essential to safeguarding future satellite operations.
23 June 2025
We invite contributions exploring the growing impacts of human space activities on Earth's systems and the fragmentation between space and Earth governance. The aim is to develop a unified framework for earth-space governance, examining normative, analytical, and transformative dimensions across diverse disciplines.
April 2024
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In March 2025, PlanetStewards joined leading experts, policymakers, and researchers in Lausanne, Switzerland, for the international workshop “Space Sustainability: Bridging Initiatives and Perspectives.” Co-organized by the FOGOS COST Action, Secure World Foundation, and the EPFL Space Center (eSpace), the event aimed to align diverse initiatives and explore pathways toward more inclusive, sustainable, and cooperative space governance.
17 April 2025
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2024's ERC conference explored the critical interfaces between environment, humanity, and technology—within and beyond Earth’s planetary boundaries. These limits, whether spatial, ecological, biological, physical, geopolitical, or even mental, shape the challenges of our time. Dr. Xiao-Shan Yap from the Planet Stewards Project spoke on the role of humans—their perceptions and impacts—within changing Earth-Space systems, and how frontier research can inform pathways beyond planetary boundaries.
5 December 2024
The 2024 Earth-Space Symposium, was held 12-13 November 2024 in Utrecht, the Netherlands, it provided a much-needed forum to gather theoretical consideration, identify gaps and synergies, and exchange ideas to chart a new line of science and policy inquiry on our changing Earth-Space systems.
14 November 2024
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Dr. Xiao-Shan Yap was featured in the debate in Horizons Magazine published on 5 September 2024. The debate explores whether research into solar geoengineering—technologies designed to reflect sunlight and cool the planet—should be restricted.
5 September 2024
Dr. Xiao-Shan Yap was invited to speak at the 'PublicSpaces Conference 2024' in Amsterdam on 7 June 2024, along with Lars Petzold (European Space Policy Institute, ESPI) and Eleftherios Kosmas (Libre Space Foundation). The panel 'Public Outer Space' was hosted by Miha Turšič from Waag Futurelab.
07 June 2024
Dr. Xiao-Shan Yap speaks at ‘The Future of Near-Earth Space’ in Rome, Italy, along Dr. Claudia Röösli (University of Zurich) and Dr. Nina Klimburg-Witjes (University of Vienna). The panel was moderated by Markus Mooslechner and the event was organized by Istituto Svizzero - The Swiss Institute in Rome.
12 April 2024
Dr. Xiao-Shan Yap gave a lecture to space practitioners for the ‘Space Sustainability Course: How to design more sustainable missions?’ at EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland.
19-21 March 2024
Utrecht University’s Copernicus Institute introduced five interdisciplinary researchers, including Xiao-Shan Yap of PLANETSTEWARDS, who won major ERC grants. Yap's research promises to shed light on the intricate dynamics between these planetary stewardship approaches and their consequences for both Earth's and space sustainability.
21 March 2024
Dr. Xiao-Shan Yap among the six EPFL researchers awarded with a SNSF Starting Grant of up to 1.8 mil CHF each
21 November 2023
Dr. Xiao-Shan Yap among the seven Utrecht-based researchers who received an ERC Starting Grant of up to 1.5 mil euros each
5 September 2023
Malaysian researcher - Dr. Xiao-Shan Yap - among 400 awardees of ERC starting grants worth over €628 million
6 September 2023