Dr Cassandra Steer
Dr. Cassandra Steer is a Mission Specialist with the ANU Institute of Space (InSpace), and a lecturer at the College of Law specialising in space law, space security and international law. Dr. Steer has more than a decade of international experience teaching at universities in Australia, Europe, North America and South America, and brings a comparative perspective to all her research and teaching.
Dr. Steer was formerly Acting Executive Director at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Ethics and Rule of Law, where her major focus was the design and delivery of a high level international conference on “The Weaponization of Outer Space: Ethical and Legal Boundaries”. Previously she has held positions as Executive Director of Women in International Security - Canada, Executive Director of the McGill Institute of Air and Space Law, and Assistant Professor at the University of Amsterdam. She has a degree in philosophy (UNSW); undergraduate and Masters degrees in law and a PhD in International Criminal Law, all from the University of Amsterdam. In 2011 Dr Steer was a Fulbright Scholar at Cornell Law School, and she has been a Visiting Scholar at McGill Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia Law School, and the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires.
From her background in State responsibility, international criminal law and international humanitarian law, Dr. Steer became a specialist in international space law, particularly interested in how technology has changed the way international relations and wars are conducted. Her current research focuses on space security, including space situational awareness and space traffic management, and the application of the law of armed conflict and use of force in outer space. She has also been a consultant to military lawyers in the Canadian Judge Advocate General’s Office and to the U.S. Department of Defense on these issues.
Dr. Steer is the Canadian representative member on the International Law Association Space Law Committee, an Associate Expert on the Woomera Manual on the International Law of Military Space Operations, and a member of the International Institute of Space Law.
Updated: 05 Oct 2022