Michael Davis takes his Adelaide law strength into space; plays role in developing Australian space agency/industry
Michael Davis played a key role in organising International Space University and University of South Australia programmes and courses in Australia including the southern hemisphere space studies programme held annually in Adelaide.
Main image by Michael Coggan, courtesy ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) News
Adelaide’s Michael Davis was at the vanguard of developing space law in Australia when he graduated with a master of space studies from the International Space University in Strasbourg, France, in 1996, and as a member of the International Institute of Space Law.
A law graduate from Adelaide University, Davis was a partner at the major South Australian legal firm Ward & Partners for 22 years before being a founder, in 2002, of specialist commercial law firm Adelta Legal. He retired from legal practice in 2014.
Davis's volunteer service in the space sector includes five years as chair of the Space Industry Association of Australia and 20 years on its board. Davis proposed Adelaide as the host of the International Astronautical Congress in 2017, and chaired the congress local organising committee for that event. He was a leading advocate for establishing an Australian space agency, an Australian Government decision announced at the congress.
Davis also played a key role in organising International Space University and University of South Australia programmes and courses in Australia including the southern hemisphere space studies programme annually in Adelaide. Recognising his contribution to the Australian space industry, Davis was appointed as an officer of the Order of Australia in 2019.
Davis also became chair of the Andy Thomas Space Foundation, set up in Adelaide in 2020, to advance space education by making STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) literacy for all students a priority. It wanted to raise space awareness by linking space science and technologies to our everyday lives and by contributing to Australia’s national space community.
