2023 Mentor: Mária Alvarenga dos Santos
Márcia Alvarenga dos Santos
Education and Training Department Head at the National Institute for Space Research
Region: Latin America
Keywords: Space law, space law research
Márcia Alvarenga dos Santos is a Senior Science & Technology Analyst, Head of the Department of Education and Training at the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) and one of the founders of INPE's Popularization of Science Program "Ciência Transformando Vidas" (Science Changing Lives). She is a member of the Brazilian Association of Aeronautical and Space Law (SBDA) and the International Institute of Space Law (IISL). She was a member of the Hague International Space Resources Governance Working Group and a participant in the "50 Years of Space Law" program at the Hague Academy of International Law. Márcia has attended, as an observer, the meetings of the UN COPUOS Legal Subcommittee since 2017. She holds a Doctor in Law from the Catholic University of Santos (2019). In her thesis, in Space Law, she investigated the legal regime applicable to low complexity small satellites to propose regulations to safeguard space actors and mitigate environmental impacts in outer space caused by such space objects. Her main topics of research interest are space law, small satellites and sustainability of space activities.