Arfan Chaudhry

Arfan has 30+ years’ experience of central government and the space and defence sectors, focusing on policy development at the strategic level, building effective relationships/partnerships at Ministerial and senior official/Board level. Arfan has held a number of operational and policy roles, including at UK Trade & Investment with responsibility for delivering the strategy of industry engagement to ensure focused UK Government support for exports. He is a qualified Management Accountant who, early in his UK Civil Service career, undertook a range of finance, secretariat and operational appointments in the MOD. In May 2018 Arfan joined the UK Space Agency as Head of International Policy, responsible for developing the Agency’s policy for international interventions which maximise benefits in trade, security, science and wider policy issues such as climate change.

In Jun 2021 he was appointed as International Director at UKSA, responsible for international engagement through multilateral and bilateral frameworks, capturing the wider societal benefits of space programmes and harnessing the inspirational effect of space for skills and education. He also led UK’s delegation to the European Space Agency and led on security and resilience of the UK’s infrastructure and space applications. In Oct 2021 he was appointed the Deputy Director International Strategy and Regulation at BEIS where he led the International Strategy, Critical National Infrastructure, Space Services and Regulation policy teams in the Space Directorate. In Dec 2022 he joined the Saudi Space Commission/Agency as VP Partnerships to develop and support the build-up and operation of Saudi Arabia’s Space program in line with the National Space Strategy (NSS) and the Saudi Vision 2030.

He led teams to implement the NSS, build and develop strategic industry and academic partnerships and provide effective Agency to Agency and multilateral cooperation. Since leaving SSA in Mar 25, Arfan has pursued a portfolio career in the space and defence sectors.