Jorge Del Rio Vera

Dr. Jorge Del Rio Vera is a telecommunication Engineer and with PhD in Earth observation. He started his career in the Group of Physical Oceanography of the University of Malaga where he used remote sensing to study the Mediterranean Sea, during this period he had research stays in the Colorado State University, the University of British Columbia and NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre. After that, he joined the European Space Agency, working on Envisat, the largest Earth observation satellite ever built, and Copernicus, the biggest European Earth observation programme. He has also worked for the NATO Underwater Research Centre applying space knowledge to underwater systems and the European Maritime Safety Agency using satellites to catch polluters red-handed. After that, he moved to the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency, now EUSPA, where he worked setting up the operations of the Galileo Security Monitoring Centre, providing cybersecurity and governmental Galileo services until he joined the Office for Outer Space Affairs in the United Nations, as a scientific affairs officer. In UNOOSA, among other activities, he coordinates Access to Space for All, a joint initiative between UNOOSA and space agencies, research institutions and industry aimed at providing information and developing technical know-how, engineering processes and infrastructure of the United Nations Member States in the areas of hypergravity and microgravity, satellite development and space exploration. Dr. Del Rio Vera is also the chair of Working Group on Capacity Building and Data Democracy of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites.