Roya Ayazi

• Secretary General
• Network of European Regions Using Space Technologies (NEREUS)

Being trained as a German lawyer, Roya Ayazi held for more than 20 years positions in European/Governmental Affairs and Advocacy. Since 2009 Secretary General of the European network NEREUS (Network of European Regions Using Space Technologies) Roya heads its Brussels/Belgium-based secretariat and is the main interface of the association at the European level. Liaising with the European institutions and relevant organisations of the European space sector and enhancing the political dialogue between regions as users of space technologies and relevant space organisations, she established the network as a reference for regional space user communities. While coordinating interregional co-operations and joint initiatives with the European Commission and the European Space Agency, international partnerships and networking, she realised several model initiatives to demonstrate the benefits of space.

As one of the priority topics, Roya works with regions to explore the impact of space technologies on better monitoring and safeguarding critical infrastructures. In this context, NEREUS jointly with EURISY set up a webinar series on Space4CriticalInfrastructures to discuss relevant best practices and highlight tangible examples at the local and regional level. In this context, the webinar series also featured the legislative train of a proposal by the European Commission to update European legislation on critical infrastructures by bringing different players in the decision-making process to the floor.