Anu Ojha

Professor Anu Ojha OBE is a member of the Executive Committee of the UK Space Agency . Included in his portfolio are leadership of the Agency’s International and ESA teams as well as UKSA’s public/parliamentary affairs, communications and education/future workforce programmes.

Prior to joining the Agency and Civil Service in May 2023 he was the founder of the UK National Space Academy programme and a Director of the National Space Centre. Appointed Honorary Professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester in 2016, he was co-investigator in the University’s programmes for nuclear power applications for exploration as well as the development of new technologies for planetary drilling. He also has extensive experience in analysis from ESA’s Rosetta, Mars Express and SOHO missions and was Principal Investigator for the ESA/UKSA Astro Academy Principia education experiment suite conducted by Tim Peake during his mission to the International Space Station. He continues to teach on the University’s MSc course in Space Exploration Systems specialising in human survival in extreme environments and helped develop and teaches on the University’s new undergraduate-level Fundamentals of Space training course for space professionals. 

From 2018 to 2023 he was a member of ESA’s Human Spaceflight and Exploration Science Advisory Committee (HESAC) working with the Director and Executive of ESA’s human and robotic exploration directorate. He was a member of the final site selection team for the ESA Rosalind Franklin mission targeted for the Oxia Planum region of Mars and has helped develop ESA’s science exploration strategies for human and robotic exploration of the Moon and Mars.

Since 2020 he has supported MOD Space Directorate and UK Space Command in a number of areas related to skills development, space capabilities and international perspectives through both his ESA experiences and his long-standing participation as a leader of the UK-China Joint Laboratory in Space Science and Technology. In addition to being a member of STFC Council from 2018-2024, he was also invited by the UK Secretary of State for Defence to contribute to the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy.

Prior to joining the space sector in 2008 Anu spent fourteen years as a state high school science teacher and also with British Forces Cyprus. During this time he was appointed as National Lead Practitioner for Physics by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and was also Assistant Headteacher/Advanced Skills Teacher at the largest school in England at the time. He was appointed OBE for services to science education in 2014 and co-led the National Space Academy/Loughborough College team that shared the Queen’s Anniversary Prize 2023 – the UK’s highest national honour in education.

Anu has been a British Skydiving member since 2000, has completed over 1400 jumps and was involved as a science consultant for the Red Bull Stratos stratospheric skydive programme in 2012. Since 1993 he has led many high-altitude expeditions in India and Nepal and his other interests include scuba/free diving, triathlon, amateur astronomy and contemporary world politics.