Robert Hill is the Chair of the Northern Ireland Space Leadership Council and the Northern Ireland Space Special Interest Group (NISSIG) hosted by ADS.
He has spearheaded the campaign to bring space sector opportunities to the region and authored and coordinated the development of the Northern Ireland Space Strategy, endorsed by then First Minister Arlene Foster MLA and Economy Minister Simon Hamilton at the inauguration of the Thales Electric Propulsion and Integration Test Centre in Belfast.
Robert holds the position of NI Space Cluster Manager, supported by the UK Space Agency. He is Space Advisor to FD Technologies plc, leading on the Kx for Space program and Trade Advisory Services Space lead for InvestNI, the Regional Business Development Agency, helping companies to navigate the space ecosystem.
Robert is well recognised within the UK space sector and has actively assisted the development and direction of the UK Space Innovation and Growth Strategy, leading to the creation of the National Space Strategy. Robert has helped to successfully create new programs of space activity in the region in both the upstream and downstream space sector. He has acted as regional lead on behalf of the UK Space Agency to develop the Space for Smarter Government Program (SSGP) in the region and is a Regional Fellow with the UK Satellite Applications Catapult at Harwell.
In 2019, Robert was recognized internationally and was awarded the Sir Arthur Clarke ‘Space Achievement: Special Award’ for his work in developing the Northern Ireland Space Cluster.
In 2017, Robert had the honour of co-chairing the International Space University National Team Project on behalf of Ireland. The project outline created by Robert was developed by a multinational team which included colleagues from NASA ESA, CSNA and JAXA to create the resulting ARESS (A Roadmap for Emerging Space States) report, including recommendations for New Space development in countries across the globe and a proposal for Ireland to develop its own space agency.
Robert is a member of many European and Global wide working groups and panels including chair and author of the European funded Astronet Panel E elements ‘Relationships with Industry’, ‘Planetaria and Museums’ and ‘Education, Outreach and Recruitment’.
He was a member of the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) Space Outreach Team, travelling on high profile missions to Tanzania and Nigeria to assist with space infrastructure development. In 2011, Robert had the honour to lead the Space team to Bangladesh.
Robert is proud to be an Ambassador for Visit Belfast and helped to bring the UK Space Conference to Northern Ireland for the first time in November 2023.