Sarah Erickson

Sarah Erickson is the lead Researcher at UNIDIR’s Space Security Programme, with expertise on the space-nuclear nexus, the impacts of emerging space technology on global stability, and the development of global space policies and strategies. She designs and implements Programme research projects, activities and outreach, and has led the development of programmatic digital tools, including the Space Security Portal. She has briefed UN Member States on various space security topics and served as a substantive consultant to the 2023-2024 Group of Governmental Experts on Further Practical Measures for Preventing an Arms Race in Outer Space.

Sarah is a PhD student in Public Policy at the University of Maryland with a focus on verification and multistakeholder governance in outer space. She holds a dual master’s degree from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey and Moscow State Institute of International Relations in Weapons of Mass Destruction Nonproliferation, Nuclear Policy and Global Security. She also holds an MA in Russian and a BA in Linguistics from the University of Arizona.

Prior to UNIDIR, Sarah worked with the James Martin Centre for Nonproliferation Studies, the Russian Centre for Policy Research, and the Vienna Centre for Disarmament and Nonproliferation. She was a recipient of the IAEA Marie-Sklodowska Curie Fellowship and the Catherine M. Kelleher Fellowship for International Security Studies.

Sarah speaks English, Spanish and Russian.