The Space Policy Pioneers Podcast · Science in Space

Space Policy at the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) with Tomas Hrozensky

·44 min·5 clips

Andy Williams opens by introducing the European Space Policy Institute as an organization that keeps tabs on the latest issues in space policy. He sets the discussion against the pace of change the space sector has seen over the past decade. Thomas Rosensky reflects on those changes from inside a policy institute. He returns to his own academic path in social science and says that, if he were starting again, he would have benefited from earlier work exposure in the sector before doing a doctoral program. In his view, short-term internships were not the same as being immersed in real sector work. He says academic study alone did not widen his thinking in quite the same way. Working at a think tank, he explains, is different from academic writing for its own sake. It is applied research aimed at policy questions that matter at national and European level. He describes the work as turning analysis into ideation and recommendations that can help public policy become more impactful and effective. That role also brings him into contact with multiple stakeholders, whose views can diverge. He sees that tension as useful. During his PhD, he says, that mix of perspectives was less visible. Direct exposure to the sector, he suggests, can make research and a thesis more straight to the point and less likely to drift into issues that are not as relevant to the problem being studied. He is careful to frame this as his personal experience rather than a general criticism of universities. The conversation keeps circling back to the same practical lesson: space policy is easier to understand when it is treated as a field of institutions, stakeholders, and decisions rather than as an abstract academic subject.

As heard by us

A practical look at space policy work at ESPI, and how a social-science path can lead into applied policy research.

This episode treats space policy as hands-on institutional work, not abstract commentary. It follows Dr. Thomas Rosensky at ESPI as he explains the move from a social-science academic background into think tank research after the PhD, and why earlier sector experience would have…

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See how a think tank turns a PhD-to-policy transition into practical space-policy work.

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