Judges

John is a Partner of the leading law firm Foot Anstey.

John has a passion for space and leads Foot Anstey’s Space and Satellite team, supporting space and satellite sector businesses and organisations in both the upstream and the downstream segments. 

John has co-authored a research paper "A discussion on policies and regulations governing the risks associated with radiation exposure for space tourism flight participants", published in the LSE Space Policy journal.

Following a successful career as Air Commodore in the Royal Air Force, during which he held positions of Directors of Training and Education at the Ministry of Defence, and of RAF Personnel and Training Strategy, Martin then became the CEO of the Association of Colleges.

 Martin has since held the role of Professor of Leadership in Further Education and Skills at UCL Institute of Education and is currently Chair of Natural Cambridgeshire.

Joshua is currently leading Sandwell’s Planning Regeneration Team, focused on accelerating the delivery of £500m+ investment, across their core regeneration zones in Sandwell. This is aligned to SMBC’s Corporate £2.9bn Regeneration + Growth pipeline. Joshua is also Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) National Young Planner of 2023, representing Young Planners on an international, national and regional scale here in the West Midlands. He is trying to blend the art of science fiction, with the science of urban masterplanning and through supporting The Hazels he has an opportunity to give back to the future, from the present!

John is Pro Vice-Chancellor International, Northumbria University, North East 2024 Business Person of Year (North East Business Awards) and Business Cloud’s 2024 Northern Leaders 200 list Education Champion.

In 2022 John began work with Lockheed Martin Space UK and the UK Space Agency to develop NESST, a collaborative £50 million pound research and development facility that will transform the space economy of the northeast and the wider UK. John has been instrumental in driving the regional space economy through NESST (North East Space Skills and Technology Centre), a £60m collaboration between Northumbria University, the UK Space Agency and Lockheed Martin Space UK.

Zeshan is a cyber security specialist; a strategic leader passionate about propelling regional impact and growth in the cybersecurity landscape.As the architect of multiple award-winning programmes, Zeshan regularly speaks at events and webinars and has successfully guided hundreds of individuals into thriving IT and cybersecurity careers. Zeshan has a strong focus on cybersecurity, AI integration in the workplace, cloud computing, and infrastructure fundamentals.

Zeshan was a key member of the UK Cyber Security Council Formation team that established the UK Cyber Security Council, as Workstream Lead, Qualifications & Careers Framework.

Co-founder of Space Skills Alliance

Heidi started with her first telescope aged twelve and was quickly hooked. She has a degree in Physics and Space Science from the University of Leicester and a PhD in Astronomy from The Open University, where she analysed astronomical data sets (and baked prize- winning astronomy cakes).

A0s well as extensive data analysis skills, she is passionate about education and training for the space sector. She has been a mentor and organiser for Space School UK, and led the development of space apprenticeship qualifications in Cornwall.