Maria Vittoria Prest Awarded A PhD In International Law

On 24 September 2026, Maria Vittoria Prest, a member of the Outer Space Law Observatory on Space Law and Policy (OSL) research team, obtained her PhD in International Law at Sapienza University of Rome.

Her doctoral dissertation, entitled “The realization of European Union values through space activities: safety, security and sustainability in European space law” (La realizzazione dei valori dell’Unione europea nelle attività spaziali: sicurezza e sostenibilità nel diritto spaziale europeo), was completed under the supervision of Prof. Sergio Marchisio and Prof. Valentina Zambrano.

The research critically investigates how EU space policy supports the realization of the Union’s values, fundamental rights and principles, and the role of safety, security and sustainability within the evolving framework of European space law. It focuses primarily on the regulatory framework established by the EU Space Programme for the period 2021-2027 and the legal developments accompanying and following its restructuring, including the IRIS² Secure Connectivity Programme.

Space-based infrastructures, services, data, and information have become increasingly relevant to how contemporary societies function. From Earth observation and satellite navigation to telecommunications and space situational awareness, space activities support a wide range of public policies, critical infrastructures and services. Against this background, the research explores the increasingly infrastructural and cross-cutting role of EU space policy, arguing that space activities help create the material, informational, and operational conditions through which the Union pursues its objectives and gives effect to its fundamental values.

To examine this contribution, the research develops a classification based on three illustrative functions of EU space activities – security-related, protective and sustainability-oriented – representing different, though potentially overlapping, ways in which space-based capabilities can contribute to the respect, development and promotion of the Union’s values, the protection of fundamental rights and the observance of legal principles.

Among its key findings, the dissertation highlights that the availability of advanced technological capabilities does not automatically ensure effective contributions to EU values, fundamental rights, and principles. Rather, this depends on both their technical and operational characteristics and the legal, institutional, and political frameworks in which they are employed.

Another overarching result concerns the bidirectional relationship between EU space policy and the Union’s values. While space activities can contribute to their respect, development and promotion, those same values, together with fundamental rights and principles, provide the legal framework within which European space activities must be regulated, developed and implemented. This relationship also underscores the importance of ensuring the safety, security, resilience and long-term sustainability of space-based capabilities.

In this context, the dissertation reconstructs the legal framework governing the safety and security of EU space programmes, with particular attention to its evolution following the adoption of Regulation (EU) 2021/696. It identifies a progressive integration of previously differentiated rules and mechanisms within a more systematic, though still complex and multi-level, legal framework. The research also investigates sustainability as a guiding parameter for developing and implementing EU space policy, considering both the contribution of space activities to sustainable development on Earth and the need to preserve the long-term conditions for exploring and using outer space.

The study devotes particular attention to the EU Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) sub-component, examining it as a case study to investigate the relationship between safety and sustainability and their evolving roles within European space law.

Overall, the research concludes that European space law has become increasingly integrated and systematic while retaining a complex, multi-level legal and institutional structure. It also considers the potential contribution of the EU’s regulatory experience to the future development of the international law of outer space activities, alongside the challenges the Union must address to strengthen its position as a unified actor within the international space community.

Read the full doctoral dissertation here!

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Maria Vittoria Prest awarded a PhD in International Law

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OUTER SPACE LAW

Sapienza University of Rome
Department of Political Sciences