Christoph Aubrecht manages the Global Development Assistance (GDA) program at the European Space Agency (ESA). GDA forms the technical backbone of the ‘Space for International Development Assistance’ (Space for IDA) initiative, jointly implemented with World Bank and Asian Development Bank, and has mobilized more than $100 million in both space and development finance resources dedicated to mainstreaming satellite Earth Observation in development operations.
Chris joined ESA in 2016 and initially served as ESA representative and senior advisor to the WB until 2020, still advising the Bank programmatically to date. Furthermore, he currently serves on the GEF and GPSDD Technical Advisory Groups and on the advisory boards of the Development Data Partnership and the UK FCDO-funded Humanitarian Innovation Hub.
Prior to joining ESA, Chris led the spatial analytics efforts under the World Bank’s CDRP Disaster Resilience initiative. He has lived and worked on 3 continents and gained cross-disciplinary experience (aside ESA and WB) through positions across academia, public and private as well as intergovernmental institutions including GFDRR, NOAA, EADS-Astrium, Columbia University, and the Austrian Institute of Technology.
He holds master’s and PhD degrees in integrated GI science and remote sensing (U Vienna, TU Vienna) as well as certificates in executive leadership and management development (Harvard U).