From satellites to society: innovative research in just three minutes

During the annual Research and Impact Celebration event, we heard some of the innovative and diverse research that is being conducted by our PhD students. 

One of the highlights of the event was the Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition where our second year PhD students were challenged to explain their research project in a succinct and accessible form.

If you missed out on the chance to attend the event you can read about the research being conducted by the Three Minute Thesis winner, Rania Djojosugito and runners-up Kağan Sürücü and Chloe Young.

Rania Djojosugito: Crash of the Satellite: To what extent are earth-environmental impacts considered under the legal framework for space activities?

Pollution is no longer contained to Earth, rather we see it creeping into our environment from space as well. When non-functional man-made objects in space or “space debris”¹ return to earth, they will often disintegrate partially or entirely in our atmosphere. What may survive this process is left behind on the ocean floor as it sinks down². This activity begs the question, “is this not just another form of pollution?” 

My research focuses on the question ‘to what extent are earth-environmental impacts considered under the legal framework for space activities?’ To address this question, my socio-legal research focuses on the activity of space debris re-entry and uses three key concepts: problem shifting, regime interaction, and earth system governance. Problem shifting can be understood as the solving of one problem, but creating a new problem as a consequence. One of the most important issues focused on in space governance, is orbital congestion, the growth of non-functional objects or space junk in orbit. This hinders future uses and can lead to a cascade of collisions known as Kessler Syndrome. To solve this problem, these objects are steered away from orbit. One of these methods is through re-entry to earth. However, research has surfaced on its potential harm including affecting the chemical composition of the atmosphere from the release of metal vapours from re-entry³, as well as its potential impact on ocean bodies from surviving pieces4. Hence, while re-entry may solve the problem of orbital congestion, it comes at the consequence of shifting debris to earth.

My starting point is looking at the legality of this activity. Whether it is governed by any laws to begin with. Although space law provides no clear guidance on how to address environmental protection, Article III of the Outer Space Treaty⁵ obligates states to comply with international law. Opening up the door to consider regime interaction: how this specific space activity and the rules and norms attached to it, interacts with other legal regimes such as international environmental law and Law of the Sea. Using a doctrinal and comparative legal approach, I investigate how obligations and norms from other affected legal jurisdictions are influenced. Lastly, earth system governance is used to consider novel ways of addressing this issue. It is a framework which examines how environmental change is impacted by governance structures and highlights the need for holistic practices. I apply this framework to argue for an interdisciplinary understanding of space debris re-entry, along with measures to address it.

It is not the sole space community that needs to put attention to this activity, but marine institutions, atmospheric scientists and other stakeholders affected by this activity.

1. United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs ‘Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space’ (United Nations, 2010) <https://www.unoosa.org/pdf/publications/st_space_49E.pdf> accessed 27 July 2025
2. In some instances, surviving debris may even impact land. Some recent examples include an old pallet of batteries from the International Space Station impacting a house in Florida, United States in 2024; a separation ring from a launch vehicle landing in a field in a village close to Nairobi, Kenya; and airspace closures across Spain over the risks from debris from a Chinese Long March 5B rocket in 2022.
3. José Ferreira, et. al. ‘Potential Ozone Depletion From Satellite Demise During Atmospheric Reentry in the Era of Mega-Constellations’ (Advancing Earth and Space Sciences, 11 June 2024) <https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024GL109280> accessed 27 July 2025.
4. International Maritime Organization ‘IMO explores ocean threats from rocket launch debris’ (International Maritime Organization, 3 July 2024). <https://www.imo.org/en/mediacentre/pages/whatsnew-2102.aspx> accessed 28 July 2025
5. Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies 1967

Kağan Sürücü: The Seventh Floor: Externalisation of Asylum and Reconstructing UNHCR’s Mandate

I am studying the mandate of the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and how it is interpreted, reshaped, and implemented by actors within the organisation’s Geneva headquarters and its various field offices. Using socio-legal and ethnographic methods, I view the UNHCR’s mandate as a dynamic thing shaped by both human and non-human actors within the institution.

Through my analysis, I aim to reconstruct mandate of the UNHCR with the narratives from its own actors. I am focusing on the UNHCR’s evolving engagement with the externalisation of asylum processes in the last 30 years. I am exploring whether this shift in governance has prompted internal debates about the organisation’s mandate, and how these debates were framed, managed, and resolved. 

Ultimately, I want to determine whether recent internal changes, in practices, performances, and the influence of various actors, have contributed to reimagining the UNHCR’s legal framework in the context of its engagement with externalisation.

Chloe Young: The “Night-Time Self”: Understanding Risk, Danger, and Excitement in the Night-Time Economy

The Nighttime Economy (NTE) has been a focus of criminological research due to its particular association with crime. Previous research has explored the prevalence and nature of offences such as violence, sexual assault and drug use. In these conceptions, the NTE is a place of victimisation, danger and risk. My research takes a different approach. I ask if, rather than intruding on the NTE, risk is an essential part of it, and the attraction to those who use it. What is the attraction of the NTE as a place of risk? Do people experience risk differently in the NTE? If so, why?

My research explores these questions through two stands of inquiry. Firstly, through a consideration of what makes an atmosphere in the NTE beyond thinking about it as an economy or as defined through its commercial activity. Instead, I ask what happens when we think about the NTE as a place of atmosphere and affect that shapes those within. Secondly, my research explores whether there is a shift in the way participants experience and tolerate risk in the NTE. If so, what enables this? Can we see the emergence of a ‘night self’? What are the implications of this for how we should understand risk and danger of the NTE? 

To explore these questions, my empirical fieldwork explores the experiences of participants in the NTE and their disconnections and continuities with their daytime subjectivities. I explore the significance of transitions as people move into and out of the NTE as a means to illuminate shifts in behaviour, experiences and identities and their relationship with risk. Through this approach, I hope my research will contribute towards a new understanding of risk in the NTE, with a range of implications for how we understand the NTE both as an arena of social practice and as a site for crime and its control.