The UK Space Agency’s Senior Programme Lead for National Security, Diana Luncă has been awarded the NATO Science and Technology Organization (STO) Systems Concepts and Integration (SCI) Early Career Award, recognising her outstanding contribution to the NATO Research Specialists' Meeting (RSM) SCI 370, which focused on dual use space technologies exploitation for NATO Alliance operations and security.
Civil and defence space: driving innovation
Diana leads the Unlocking Space for Defence programme within the UK Space Agency, operating at the intersection of civil and defence space.
Her work focuses on accelerating the adoption of dual use technologies - innovations developed in the civil or commercial sector that can be applied to defence and security contexts.
This area is increasingly critical to NATO; rapid technological advances are often driven by commercial space actors, creating both opportunities and challenges for defence organisations seeking to integrate capabilities quickly and effectively.
Through her role, Diana has worked closely with defence and intelligence stakeholders, industry, and international partners to help bridge this gap, supporting the translation of emerging technologies into operational capability.
NATO SCI 370: delivering impact
The SCI 370 Research Specialists' meeting brought together experts from across NATO nations and partner organisations, including representatives from government, military, academia, and industry.
The meeting focused on identifying priority capability needs, understanding barriers to adoption, and exploring practical pathways for integrating dual use space technologies into NATO operations.
Diana served as co-chair of the meeting, helping to convene and guide discussions among a diverse, multinational stakeholder group and ensuring that outputs were translated into actionable recommendations for the Alliance. Read more about this in our previous post.
A team effort across the UK Space Agency
The successful delivery of SCI 370 was the result of a strong collaborative effort across the UK Space Agency and the wider NATO community.
Colleagues from across the Agency contributed to the planning and delivery of the event, supporting logistics, stakeholder engagement, and technical reporting. Their professionalism and commitment ensured a highly effective forum for collaboration and knowledge exchange.
Diana said:
"I am honoured to receive the NATO Early Career Award for my contribution to the SCI 370 Research Specialist Meeting. This recognition reflects the importance of collective efforts across government, industry, and international partners to strengthen the connection between innovation and operational needs.
I am particularly grateful to colleagues across Dstl, the DLR, the UK Space Agency, and the wider NATO community, whose collaboration, expertise, and commitment made the work possible. It is a privilege to support NATO’s efforts to enhance resilience and security through space, and I hope to continue this work moving forward."
Supporting NATO's future resilience
This recognition reflects the growing importance of space to NATO's operational effectiveness and resilience. From satellite communications to Earth observation and space domain awareness, space technologies are central to how the Alliance operates in an increasingly complex security environment.
The UK Space Agency remains committed to supporting NATO through innovation, partnership, and the development of dual use capabilities that strengthen both national and Allied security.
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