Ústav mezinárodních vztahů

Nikola Schmidt is head of the Centre for Governance of Emerging Technologies, and a research fellow at the Institute of Political Studies at Charles University in Prague. His interests vary between International Relations theory Science and Technology Studies with focus on space, cyber and the general relation between technology and politics. Nikola is currently leading a multidisciplinary project to devise a strategy for planetary defense and asteroid mining policy for the Czech Ministry of Transport, with participation from astronomers, space engineers, international lawyers, and political scientists. He edited or authored a number of recent works, including the Springer volume Planetary Defense: Global Collaboration for Defending Earth From Asteroids and Comets as well as articles in Acta Astronautica, New Space or Bulletin for the Atomic Researchers.

Schmidt received his PhD from Charles University in 2016, with a dissertation on The Birth of Cyber as a National Security Agenda, and participated in a European Space Agency and NASA-funded planetary defense team project organized by the International Space University in 2015. Prior to re-entering academia, he founded and led two software development companies and worked on a nongovernmental organization-driven food facility project in Afghanistan. He holds a PhD and MA in international relations and security and BA in sociology.