Director of Corporate and Partnership

Nicolas Peter is the Policy Liaison Officer in the Policy and Programme Coordination Department of the European Space Agency (ESA). Before that, he was Head of International Relations at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt), one of the largest research organisations in Europe.

Mr. Peter has also been working at ESA in the Director General’s Cabinet, and at the European Commission’s Space Policy and Research Unit. Before joining ESA, he was a Research Fellow at the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI), a Lockheed Martin Fellow at the George Washington University’s (GWU) Space Policy Institute, and a Research Fellow at the X PRIZE Foundation. At the International Space University (ISU), he was Teaching Associate for the Master’s programme and Team Project Co-chair for the Summer Session Programme.

Mr Peter has 15+ years of international experience in S&T on 4 continents and in 8 countries.

Mr. Peter has published over 100 reports, book chapters, and articles in peer-reviewed journals, and presented at international conferences related to space activities. He has co-edited three books on space affairs and is a regular peer-reviewer for the Journals Space Policy and Acta Astronautica. He was invited Chair and Rapporteur for sessions dealing with space policy issues at International Astronautical Congresses (IAC) held on four continents, which provided him with a good overview of the various aspects of international cooperation. He is an Honorary Board Member of the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) and a winner of the inaugural IAF Young Space Leader Award.

Nicolas Peter holds a Bachelor’s degree in Geography from the Louis Pasteur University in Strasbourg, France. He holds his first Master’s degree in Space Systems and a second one in Space Technology Applications, both from Louis Pasteur University. He is a graduate of the ISU’s Master in Space Studies programme and holds a Master of International Science and Technology Policy from the GWU’s Elliott School of International Affairs (Washington D.C, USA). Mr. Peter attended Business Executive Education courses on policy evaluation, strategy development, strategic performance management, and prospective at ESSEC (France) (2), HEC (France), Cranfield (UK), and the Manchester Business School (UK).