Introducing Our Affiliate Program: How We’re Connecting Disciplines to Inform our Work and How You Can Get Involved
Contributors: Rachel Williams, Chelsea RobinsonIn this blog, you’ll learn how we are bringing together diverse minds to foster and nurture innovative research and projects that promote lunar stewardship through this affiliate program. Affiliates are a select group of people, one subset of many parts of our community, and we look forward to growing this trusted group over time.
Over the years Open Lunar has been driven and guided by experienced leaders across the space sector. Hundreds of hours, from hundreds of people, have been funneling into the thoughtfulness within each of our projects. This has long been an invisible and informal process, where we cultivate high-trust relationships and hear candid input.
Earlier this year as we formalized the innovation process, and carved out more refined roles for fellows, project leads and community input, we realized we need a way to formally recognise and systematically include expert advice from across many schools of thought. We landed on designing an Affiliate program.
Our Affiliate program is the home for our expert advisors, trusted members of our community that we lean on for more regular support, and people whom we believe to be incredible, aligned advocates and ambassadors for our shared vision for the Moon.
In this blog, you’ll learn how we are bringing together diverse minds to foster and nurture innovative research and projects that promote lunar stewardship through this affiliate program. Affiliates are a select group of people, one subset of many parts of our community, and we look forward to growing this trusted group over time.
What are Affiliates?
Affiliates are a diverse group of experts who share our passion for the Moon's future. They come from a myriad of sectors: from aerospace engineering to international policy, and from indigenous law and policy to multi-stakeholder community building.
This means drawing on expertise in fields that are both aligned with Open Lunar’s mission and relevant to lunar exploration, but that may not specifically focus on space at all. Their diversity of expertise is a reflection of the expertise and innovation we are aiming to bring to the Moon.
Many of these affiliates are subject-matter experts in fields directly aligning with our current research and projects. Bringing in individuals from outside the sector enables many lessons to be incorporated from sources of knowledge across all manner of fields of study. Designing a future on the Moon is not simply a scientific and technical endeavour. For many it’s economic, spiritual, political and more. The breadth of expertise we seek should mirror this.
While we lean on our Affiliates and work closely with them, they maintain their independence. They offer their expertise, insights, and opinions without necessarily aligning with every decision or stance taken by Open Lunar. This ensures a fresh, unbiased perspective and fosters an environment of constructive collaboration.
Affiliate Engagement
Affiliates are volunteer positions and can spend up to four hours a month with Open Lunar. Their engagement primarily revolves around four main camps:
Ideation: Affiliates play a crucial role in generating and refining ideas that push the envelope for lunar stewardship. Affiliates will support Open Lunar in engaging with their respective communities to identify potential ideas that can advance the notion of lunar stewardship. to source ideas to advance lunar stewardship. This idea-generation process is the top-of-the-funnel entry point for Open Lunar’s contributions to the sector.
Project Advising: Affiliates support our projects by diving in deeper with specific asks and requests. Projects can work directly with affiliates based on their expertise and needs, and also help nurture our existing projects and make decisions about what projects to support.
Project Evaluations: Affiliates often participate in our project evaluations to gauge the progress of ongoing initiatives, ensuring alignment with Open Lunar's mission and evaluating their viability and sustainability.
Community Engagement: Tapping into their respective networks, Affiliates help bring forth potential ideas and nourish existing projects.
This menu of engagements allows for every Affiliate to engage differently. We don’t expect homogenous engagement, we have a diverse group and expect their styles and interests to vary. We regularly invite participation in these opportunities and do not expect every Affiliate to do it all.
Why This Matters
In the ever-evolving realm of space exploration, decisions made today shape the narrative of tomorrow. Our Affiliates, with their vast expertise and passion for the Moon, offer vital contributions in sculpting a lunar future we can all be proud of.
Stay tuned for more updates on our Affiliates' journey and how they're paving the way for lunar stewardship.
What we are Looking for in our Affiliates
If you are interested in nominating yourself or someone you know to become an Open Lunar Affiliate, please take a moment to review the upcoming areas of work that may connect with your skills and expertise by reading this section.
Our Affiliates serve as experts in fields that are helpful or adjacent to what we are working on at Open Lunar. Examples of areas of expertise could include peacebuilding and de-conflicting, technical communications and governance, nature conservation and sustainability, international policy and geopolitics, among others.
If interested, apply to become an Affiliate. Please reach out to rachel@openlunar.org with any questions or if you are interested in nominating someone in your network to become an Affiliate.