Professor Steven Freeland (BCOM, LLB, LLM, PHD) is Emeritus Professor at Western Sydney University (formerly Dean of the School of Law), and Professorial Fellow at Bond University. He also has honorary Adjunct/Visiting appointments at University of Vienna; iCourts Centre of Excellence for International Courts, University of Copenhagen; University of Hong Kong; London Institute of Space Policy and Law; Université Toulouse1 Capitole; Centre for Research in Air and Space Law, McGill University; Centre for Research in Air and Space Law, Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai; Outer Space Institute, University of British Columbia; Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Malaysia. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, a Marie Curie Fellow (2013-2014), an expert assessor for Government Research Councils in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, South Africa, The Netherlands and the United States, and has taught International Law / Space Law in over 25 countries. He is a Co-Founder and Principal of specialized space law firm Azimuth Advisory. Prior to becoming an academic, he had a 20-year career as an international commercial lawyer and investment banker.
He represents the Australian Government at various United Nations Committee Meetings, and has advised the Australian, New Zealand, Norwegian and twelve other Governments on issues related to the national and international regulation of space activities and the development of national space strategy, policy and law. In 2019, he was appointed by the Australian Government as a Member of the Australian Space Agency Advisory Board and, in June 2021, was appointed by the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS) as Vice-Chair of a five-year ‘Working Group on Legal Aspects of Space Resource Activities’. Among other appointments, he is a Member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Future Council on the Future of Space, a previous Director of the International Institute of Space Law (2010-2022), a Member of the Space Law Committee of the International Law Association and a previous Member of the Space Law and War Crimes Committees of the International Bar Association. He has also been a Visiting Professional within the Appeals Chamber at the International Criminal Court (ICC), and a Special Advisor to the Danish Foreign Ministry in matters related to the ICC.
He sits on the Editorial Board of the Canada-based Annals of Air and Space Law, the German-based German Journal of Air and Space Law, the China-based Space Law Review, the London-based ROOM Space Journal, the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Planetary Science, the Russian-based Space Law Research, the Mumbai-based Indian Review of Air and Space Law, and on the Advisory Board of a series of books entitled Studies in Space Law. He is also Co-Editor of Annotated Leading Cases of International Criminal Tribunals, a series of casebooks annotating the jurisprudence of the International Criminal Court, the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and the Special Panels for Serious Crimes in East Timor.
He has authored approximately 400 publications on various aspects of International Law and has been invited to present over 2000 expert commentaries by national and international media outlets worldwide on a wide range of legal, policy and geopolitical issues. He has been invited to present conference papers, presentations and keynote speeches in Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Denmark, Estonia, Ethiopia, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, The Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam.