Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash

3...2...1...liftoff! Welcome to another edition of the monthly Defence Research Newsletter. I am especially excited to introduce the February theme on Outer Space. This is the thematic domain of my own PhD thesis as well as my fellow DRN Committee member, Scott Mackey. We have both very much enjoyed taking the lead on this month's newsletter therefore.

Before we proceed (I promise this editorial won't take long!) I just wanted to reflect on the positive reception our 'space' theme received. We have welcomed all of your contributions and it has been wonderful to see the DRN's cosmic expansion into Earth's orbits! As I hope the 'In Conversation' and 'Researcher Spotlight' sections will highlight in particular, outer space is an ever growing academic field garnering interest from an array of research disciplines and scholarly backgrounds. All I think, have exciting and important insights for our encounters with outer space.

In this edition, we are thrilled to share our In Conversationwith Dr Bleddyn Bowen, Associate Professor, Astropolitics and Space Warfare at the University of Leicester. We thank Dr Bowen for his generous responses concerning his own research experience on space strategy, space policy and military thinking. It is also a pleasure to Spotlight researchers from varying stages of academic career who are working or have worked on space-related issues. Here too, there is a rich and diverse collective of research that we hope will inspire and launch your own reflections on our (international) relations with space.

Before we delve into all of this however, we would first like to share our timeline of Newsletter themes for the coming months. As usual, please do reach out if there is something you would like to contribute or share with us regarding the thematic areas listed. Your feedback and suggestions are always welcome so please drop us a line!

Stay cool,

Tegan Watt Harrison
Newsletter Editor
Defence Research Network

See the full newsletter here: Space

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