SGAC is proud to present the July 2020 Member of the Month!

We have entered the second part of year 2020, a year which made us rediscover ourselves and to acquire new skills. But it made us better understand what a ‘change’ really means, especially affecting everyone’s life, at global scale. Covid-19 virus is at the forefront of every news and opening speech, and what we have learned from it, as a community, is that it brought us more strength and unity.

Standing together with those affected by this unfortunate challenge is SGAC’s primary action.

In every community around the world people are showing their gratitude, using social media channels to reach with their message of support. The first online SGAC Congress, SpaceGen United, was one of these events, where collaboration, gratitude and team-work across the borders have been fully present. 

Let’s recognise the great work the Organising Team of SpaceGen United Congress have done over the past 3 months, and especially during the event itself, 18th – 26th July, and congratulate them for their nomination as Members of the Month of July 2020!

This recognition goes to:

– Davide Petrillo – (Italy) SGU Manager

– Victoria Carter-Cortez ​- (Bolivia) SGU Deputy Manager

– Sabrina Alam – (UK) Delegates Team

– Joseph Levine – (USA) Delegates Team

Christopher Ogunlesi – (UK) Delegates Team

– Clément Pellouin – (France) Delegates Team

– Wijdane Benani – (Morocco) PR&Comms Team

– Louis-Alban De Marne – (France) PR&Comms Team

– Romain De Paepe – (Belgium) PR&Comms Team

– Lisa Kucher – (Ukraine) PR&Comms Team

– Joshua Critchley – Marrows – (Australia) Programming Team

– Hashmita Koka – (India) Programming Team

– Senjuti Mallick – (India) Programming Team

– Behnoosh Meskoob – (Iran) Programming Team

– Oluwakorede​ ​Adejoro -​ (Nigeria) Logistics Team

– Lama Aloraiman – (Kuwait) Logistics Team

– Curtis Monier – (France) Logistics Team

– Sahith Reddy Madara – (India) Logistics Team

– Giulia Bordacchini – (Italy) Sustainable Development Goals Team

– Charlotte Nassey – (France) Sustainable Development Goals Team

Nominator

Alina Vizireanu – SGAC Membership Manager:

“Hard work and dedication have been the characteristics of the Organising Team of SpaceGen United programme, greatly visible from Day One!

Over the course of the last 3 months, the organising members have worked tremendously, enabling 9 full days with inspirational keynotes, workshops on industry’ challenges, or social events for virtual engagement. 

Their space passion and true desire for the SGU congress to be perfect, to inspire and excite, start conversations and engage 140+ delegates in extraordinary, well-thought workshops, are key factors of my nomination. It is just the first day in the event and one can clearly see the beauty of teamwork and collaboration among the congress organising team members!”

Foreword by Davide Petrillo, SGAC Executive Director

“The SpaceGen United Organising Team has overcome the challenge of pivoting to an online event in light of the global Covid-19 pandemic and done a stellar job of ensuring a dynamic and engaging programme, offering our delegates the possibility to grow, learn, and have fun. SGAC is proud to report that 143 delegates from 53 different nationalities participated in the SpaceGen United. This year, SGU had 7 Workshops and the delegates were mentored by more than 50 experts from the Industries, Agencies and Academia. 

The SpaceGen United Organising Team did a truly outstanding job in the development and implementation of this first SGAC’s online Congress. With professionalism, organisation, enthusiasm and kindness each team member worked long days (and nights!) to ensure this event was the best yet. The organising team’s hard work enabled all attendees to make the most of the event – from engagement with the experts, to the outcomes of the workshops and the special social events. 

The success of this event helped to promote the voice of the next generation of space sector leaders from around the world. Congratulations to each and every member of the organizing team!”

Team members reactions:

“Being on the organizing team was an incredible experience; it was great seeing so many smart minds dedicate their energy and time to organize the SpaceGen United with so much passion even with the global pandemic. I am proud of what the team has done and I am honoured by this recognition.

What inspired me the most to join and volunteer for this initiative is the need to promote space and international collaboration amongst young space enthusiasts and professionals.

One can still make things work in a global pandemic as long as you adapt as the situation requires. I am also grateful for the new friendships.”

“I feel honored to have received this nomination and to have the opportunity to be a part of the SGU team. I truly appreciate our team and all the hard work and dedication it took to bring together SGU.

I had a rewarding experience managing SGx2019 last year, and I wanted to continue contributing to SGAC in this capacity. It turned out to be a completely unexpected and different event, but that’s a part of what makes SGAC exciting.

My biggest takeaway is that if we can work together as a team, we can do anything, even in the middle of a pandemic.”

“I am delighted that the SGU Organizing Team got nominated as member of the month by SGAC. Everyone put in a lot of effort to organize an inspiring event for the delegates, especially having to deal with the quick turnaround imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. I am proud to have been part of this journey. I joined the SGU Organizing team after participating in SGC 2019 in Washington, D.C. I wanted to be on the organizing side of the event to provide the delegates an experience as fulfilling as that of 2019.

I had the chance to meet an amazing team of 20 people thanks to this experience, and had a lot of fun preparing for the event during the lockdown in France. It was an intense and thrilling road to take!”

“What a wonderful surprise! I am thrilled to see our SGU2020 team’s commitment and enthusiasm being recognized collectively – this is a powerful reminder of the role we play as a group in supporting SGAC’s mission!

I am truly lucky to have worked with such amazing individuals over the 9 days in July and while I’m sad to be done with this role as (logistics coordinator), I cannot wait to see the amazing things that are going to happen in the upcoming SGC2021 in Dubai, UAE. There are many teams involved in SGU that contribute to pushing the conference forward so it’s an honor to be recognized for the work we’ve been doing. While the global pandemic has caused the world to feel separated at times, I enjoy working with the SGU2020 team because we’re truly focused on bringing the SGAC community closer together.

Firstly, I got to make many global connections by meeting various individuals from Industry and academia. And, few of them became best friends as well.

Secondly, I have learned that collaboration is much more important than competition in the space industry. Because we can achieve something bigger when we collaborate with various individuals with different skill sets.”

“It’s a great joy to be nominated but I am mainly really happy for the whole team to be recognized after working so much in order to set-up SpaceGen United!

I wanted to be part of something big that would actively help bring Space to any space enthusiast and do that with people that are as passionate as I am. Initially, I committed myself to work on the SGC 2020 in Dubai where I just moved at the time. But when we learned it would not happen, what inspired me to stand-up to the challenge that SpaceGen United represented was really the positivity and engaging attitude of our amazing managing team!

I’m really proud of this collective achievement and also met a lot of new people either locally or across the world with whom, I am sure, I will keep ties for the future. It was a lot of very long days, late meetings, lack of rest and many coffees to do this, and also keep a regular rhythm at work. All that really helped me further was time management and leadership skills.”

“I love the SGAC and what it stands for. The SGU really couldn’t  have been a better way to be closer to the family, especially during this trying time.

It was inspirational to see what was achieved by the workshops in only the space of a week – being a part of the process setting these up, it was very special seeing what the SGAC community could achieve, especially online.”

“As a proud member of the Programming team, I’m thrilled and humbled to be nominated as MoM. The whole SGU organizing team worked very hard to deliver excellent content and experience for the delegates and create a unique atmosphere for everyone to learn, work, and contribute to the space industry. PThe programming team specifically was a great combination of professionalism and friendly cooperation. I highly appreciate this nomination and I also would like to thank my teammates (Hashmita, Joshua and Senjuti), Davide, Victoria, and Matteo for their cooperation and leadership.

It was the fifth time I was a member of an organizing team for different SGAC events. I enjoyed the cooperative atmosphere of event organizing teams of SGAC, when we all work together to reach a higher goal, both to learn and to contribute, help the new generation of space enthusiasts be heard, and most importantly, have their inputs be presented in the UN events. I would love to spend my time and energy on space-related initiatives and help the next generation to grow professionally and personally through such international cooperation and networking opportunities.

The topic of the Special Track Workshop was gender equality, diversity, and inclusion in the space industry. It’s a challenge that we all might face in our work environment. Through the discussions and interactions with delegates, speakers, and SMEs, I learned a lot, found new friends from all around the world, made new cooperation ties, and more importantly, learned leadership skills from Davide, Victoria, and Matteo! I enjoyed every second of this work and it was a pleasure to work with an amazing team from all around the world!”

“What a great surprise! I am thrilled to see our team’s commitment, enthusiasm, and efforts being recognized collectively. I am so glad I had the opportunity to work with this incredibly diverse team of amazing, motivated, and creative people who helped facilitate the success of  SpaceGen United (SGAC’s first online Congress) during these unprecedented times!

Since my very young age, I was always  fascinated by space technologies, intrigued by air and space engines asking how, when, why and after much investigation and varied pursuits on what to pursue in my life no wonder I have found a sense of purpose in aerospace engineering. Aiming to become a major player in the space sector’s growth, I applied for this position to join my voice to SGAC’s impressive youth to inspire the world and contribute to the success of an amazing space event gathering top young minds from around the world to focus on key space topics.

If I had to summarize this experience in two words I would say flexibility and resilience! Thanks to this experience I learned that giving up is not an option because, despite all the unfortunate events and the challenging circumstances of the last couple of months that lead to the cancellation of SGC2020, the team kept working so hard, dealt with in with quick turnarounds, and came up with a new awesome congress format.”