Governance and ethics

Whether life exists beyond Earth is aeons old, yet it is only relatively recently that space missions have been launched to help answer this. These missions undoubtedly provide benefits to society, with innovations and technologies that make our lives better, but they are not without challenges. Searching for life beyond Earth has specific scientific, governance and ethical dimensions that our research explores, including engaging with planetary protection principles, exploring who has the right to space and for what purpose, and identifying practices and conduct on Earth that underpins space research and ensures sustainability. 

Entry requirements

Minimum 2:1 undergraduate degree (or equivalent). If you are not a UK citizen, you may need to prove your knowledge of English.

Potential research projects

• Anti-colonial and decolonial approaches to outer spaces
• Indigenous cosmologies and conceptions of space exploration
• Uses of space technologies in the Global South
• Conflicts around space infrastructure on Earth
• Philosophical issues associated with finding evidence of life and communicating this evidence to wider society
• Identifying the practices and conduct on Earth that underpin astrobiology research

Current/recent research projects

• Lessons learnt from Earth: Can COSPAR be used for the enhancement of planetary protection and the cooperation and promotion of explorations of outer space activities by utilising space governance and astrobiology?
• The use of space technologies in International Development, Opportunities and Challenges
• Holding corporate actors accountable for space-based harms or threats thereof to the environment of outer space or to the interests of other users of outer space

Potential supervisors

• Dr Marjan Alevski – Lecurer in Law
• Professor Shonil Bagwhat – Head of Discipline
• Dr Alessandra Marino – Research Fellow
• Professor Karen Olsson-Francis – Director AstrobiologyOU

Fees and funding

PhD fees

Some of our research students are funded via the Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership; others are self-funded

For detailed information about fees and funding, visit Fees and studentships.

To see current funded studentship vacancies across all research areas, see Current studentships.

Links

• AstrobiologyOU group
• OU Law School