SGAC is pleased to announce the winners of the 2025 European Space Leader Award who will attending the 9th Edition of the E-SGW will be held between the 4th and 5th of July in Toulouse, France.

Congratulations Tiia, Tomas, Mathilde and Billy!

Tiia Tikkala

Tiia is an MSc student in Computational Science & Engineering at TU Munich, Germany. While she comes from Finland, she completed her BSc in Aerospace Engineering at TU Delft where she spent much of her time in the rocketry team DARE, working on projects ranging from control of rocket engines to trajectory simulations. She was SGAC’s National Point of Contact for Finland between 2023-2025, and has been part of organising various SGAC events, acting as Deputy Event Manager of the first SG[Nordic-Baltic] in January 2025.

 I am incredibly honoured to receive the European Space Leader Award. I have learned so much in my time at SGAC, and I am very excited to pay it forward by making this E-SGW as rewarding for others as past SGAC events have been for me. Thank you.

Tomas Ducai

Tomáš Dučai is a Molecular Biology MSc student at the University of Vienna with an academic background also in teaching-science studies of biology, philosophy, and psychology as well as Slovak language. He serves as a Board Member of CHASM (Community of Human Analogue Space Missions) and is the world’s first wheelchair-using analog parastronaut, having served as Biolab Officer during the M2.24 mission at LunAres Research Station. As a passionate advocate for inclusion in space sciences, he contributes to SGAC’s Diversity and Gender Equality Project Group and its long-term initiative DIVINAS and PADAWANS. Tomáš has engaged in science communication through NASA’s GeneLab for High Schools, participated in ESA- and AIAA-linked events, and lectured and volunteered internationally. His interdisciplinary background bridges life sciences, accessibility, and analog research with a focus on equitable space exploration.

To be selected as a European Space Leader feels like a constellation of past efforts aligning into one shared orbit — inclusion, science, and the dream of space. I’m deeply honored, not just for myself, but for everyone who believes that access to space begins with access to each other.

Mathilde Leuridan

Mathilde is a research software engineer at the European Center for Medium Ranger Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and a PhD student at the University of Cologne. Prior to this, she studied for a MSc in Mathematical Modelling and Scientific Computing at the University of Oxford, from which she graduated in 2022. She also holds a BSc in Mathematics from the University of Warwick, which she completed in 2021. In her free time, she volunteers at SGAC as Local Events Coordination Team lead and as part of different event organising teams. Outside of aerospace, she also likes to travel, practice the piano and play squash.

 I am very grateful for this opportunity to attend the 9th E-SGW! I’ve made many great friends and connections at SGAC throughout the years and I am very thankful to SGAC for helping me build such a network of like-minded people. This scholarship will help me to contribute again to the interesting working groups this year and meet with experts in the field!

Billy Bryan

 Billy is a senior strategist at the UK Space Agency, leading on setting the UK’s direction domestically and internationally for the coming years. His key focuses are on unifying the UK’s objectives in space across government departments, and in informing the UK’s bid into ESA’s CMIN25 process. Previously, he was at RAND where he built and led the space policy research business area in Europe. He is also part of SGAC’s space law and policy research group. His interests in space lie in international cooperation and R&D support across topics including space traffic management, in-space servicing and maintenance, space science and earth observation. He has broader prior experience in international development programmes, green technology and nuclear R&D. His PhD was in medical education where he developed new ways of training junior doctors in clinical skills.

 I am delighted and grateful to have been selected for the European Space Leader Award to attend the European Space Generation Workshop. My thanks to SGAC for this excellent opportunity to co-create proposals for laws and policies to support the future lunar economy.