15 Mar 2021
Professor Jack Beard has been elected to serve as the editor-in-chief of the Woomera Manual on the International Law of Military Space Operations. Previously, Beard served as a core expert and will continue to serve as a member of the Manual’s editorial and governance board.
The Woomera Manual will become the definitive document on military and security law as it applies to space. The project, set for completion in early 2022, draws on the knowledge and research of dozens of legal and space operations experts from around the world. Diplomatic and military representatives from numerous foreign governments have also already contributed to the project.
Beard is the co-director of Nebraska’s space, cyber, and telecommunications law program, teaching courses in international cyber security, national security space law and arms control. His primary research interests focus on public international law and national security law, with a particular emphasis on space law, cyber capabilities, and the law of armed conflict.
The University of Nebraska College of Law is one of the four founding institutions and principal sponsors of the Woomera Manual Project. In addition to Beard, Professor Frans von der Dunk serves as a core expert on the project.
Since 2008, Nebraska Law has offered an LL.M. degree in space, cyber, and telecommunications law, and broke ground in 2013 as the only doctoral-level space law program in the United States. Students explore the law and regulations of outer space activities and work with faculty on research that leads change in the industry and government.