Alissa J. Haddaji

Founder/Director

Alissa J. Haddaji is an Adjunct Professor of Space Law, Policy, and Ethics, specializing in International Space Threat Management (Planetary Protection & Defense). She is the founder and director of The Space Consortium and Massachusetts Space Week (formerly Space Week at Harvard, now expanded statewide). She serves as the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) coordinator for the United Nations-mandated Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG) Legal Working Group on Planetary Defense. She is also the Chair of the International Astronautical Federation’s (IAF) Near Earth Object & Planetary Defense Committee. Additionally, she represents the International Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) to SMPAG. Dr. Haddaji developed and taught the first Space Law, Policy, and Ethics curriculum at Harvard University, Harvard Law School and Boston College Law School, which she now continues to teach statewide through The Space Consortium. She previously served as COSPAR’s Planetary Protection Project Officer (2015–2019), was a senior researcher in space economics at Harvard Business School (2020), a space policy research fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, and a visiting scholar at the GWU Space Policy Institute. She holds a Ph.D. in Science and Technology Policy and five Master’s degrees in Planetary Science, History/International Relations, Political Science, Law, and Socio-Anthropology, from Brown University, La Sorbonne University, and Bordeaux 1 University.