Meet the team
Astrodóttir brings together specialists in international law, policy, operations and education.
Dr Heather Allansdottir
Heather founded Astrodóttir and leads its consultancy, teaching and research. She came to space law sideways, through constitutional law, human rights and polar governance — all fields concerned with writing rules for situations nobody has faced before, which is most of space law. She holds a DPhil in Socio-Legal Studies from Oxford and has worked on collaborative constitution-drafting in Iceland. Her book New Perspectives in Outer Space Law is forthcoming from Springer, and she co-hosts Law in Orbit.
Liam Kurmos
Liam leads Astrodóttir’s technology and digital infrastructure. He has run the Welsh technology company Astral Dynamics for over a decade, building web platforms, DevOps and AI systems. He holds an MSc in Theoretical Physics from Sussex and an MSc in Computer Science from Bangor, and founded Astralship, an innovation space in a Snowdonia chapel.
Hamish Freer
Hamish supports business operations and business development at Astrodóttir, working directly with clients on advisory engagements, sector research and education programmes. He came to space from enterprise transformation and project management, and has experience building startups. He holds degrees in psychology, business management and applied finance — the psychology turning out to be more useful in this industry than it sounds.
Charlotte Sands
Charlotte co-hosts Law in Orbit, where she covers the legal questions arising as space activity accelerates. A first class graduate of the University of Exeter with a Bachelor of Laws with Honours, she developed a particular interest in space law during her studies, drawn to being part of something significant as it unfolds. Outside work she is a committed crossword solver and rarely without an audiobook running.
Arsh Sahota
Arsh leads Astrodóttir’s client development in North America. She trained as a lawyer, with a BA LLB in international law from the Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, and has built a career in financial crime and regulatory compliance — most recently in senior compliance at Simply Comply in Toronto, following roles at CIBC and PwC. She is currently an academic tutor at the University of Oxford. Working inside regulatory regimes as operational problems is exactly the discipline our clients need.
Maya Dali
Maya designs and runs Astrodóttir’s events, and leads our thinking on the European picture. A graduate of the University of Malta, the University of Law and UCL, she encountered space law during her undergraduate degree and stayed interested in how it meets other areas of law. She also works with Heather on an upcoming podcast series on public law. Maya has a penchant for dogs and, when not in the UK, can usually be found on an island in the Mediterranean.