UF'SEDS UK STUDENTS FOR THE EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF SPACE ANNUAL REPORT 2025 - 2026
UK Students for the Exploration and Development of Space
U K S E D S
27-29 SOUTH LAMBETH ROAD, LONDON, SW8 1SZ
The charity is constituted as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, registered on 27 February 2019.
Registered Charity Number: 1182239
OBJECTS OF THE CHARITY
Our mission is to connect students and recent graduates with the space sector, in the UK. We run space projects, host conferences, competitions, workshops, and careers events, and do outreach all over the country. Our vision is of a thriving UK space sector in which a wide range of space careers are viable for a wide range of people.
Education
Advocacy
Outreach
We provide students with opportunities to develop their skills and experience, and also to learn more about the sector.
We represent the role of students and young people within the space sector, to enable them to have their voices be heard.
We support events across the UK to promote understanding of space and its importance to life on Earth.
STATEMENT OF PUBLIC BENEFIT
The trustees have ensured that the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit was duly considered when planning and carrying out the charity’s activities.
COMMENT ON RESERVES
The charity holds reserves in line with guidance issued by the Charity Commission. The trustees have adopted a reserves policy designed to maintain financial stability, support ongoing operations, and enable future activities. These reserves are retained to manage unforeseen costs, reduce financial risk, and safeguard the continued delivery of the charity’s services and programmes.
Foreword From The Chair
UKSEDS is the UK’s national student and early professional space charity, founded in 1988. As a registered charity with 4,600+ current members, 40+ university branches, and 20,000+ followers across social media platforms, we provide a nationwide platform for skills development, networking, and career advancement in the space sector. Across multiple teams consisting of student and early-career volunteers, we deliver national and regional events and projects, including conferences, skills workshops, outreach programs, five annual national competitions spanning rocketry, rovers, satellites and ISAM, and more. Through these initiatives, UKSEDS works to inspire, upskill and enable the next generation of space professionals.
An investment in UKSEDS is an investment in the UK's future space workforce. Your generous support is what allows us to do what we do - making space more accessible to 1000s nationwide and contributing to the growth of the industry.
We look forward to having you join us on our mission.
Anna Kalapurakkal
UKSEDS Chair
UKSEDS TEAM
We are a registered charity, no. 1182239 .
Our Trustees and Executive Committee are elected by the Membership in accordance with our Constitution, and plan our activities with regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, our Objects, and our long term strategy.
Executive Committee
Anna Kalapurakkal , Chair Samhita Manukonda , Vice-Chair Anjali Santhakumar , Treasurer Neha Susan Biju , Secretary Suliman Saifullah , At-Large Divyam Aneja , At-Large
External Trustees
Elizabeth Jackson , Head of Space, Science Museum Group Derek Harris , Director of Business Development and Communications, Skyrora
Matjaz Viadmar , Lecturer in Engineering Management, University of Edinburgh Nick Shave , Managing Director, Astroscale UK Jacob Geer , Managing Director, Orbit Fab
Katherine Courtney , Chair, Global Network on Sustainability in Space (GNOSIS)
We would like to extend the biggest thank you to all of our incredible volunteers for their immense efforts and hard work this year. Your passion and dedication towards the space industry, and towards helping other space enthusiasts despite all of your other commitments keeping you extremely busy, is what makes UKSEDS what it is today.
TRUSTEES
Trustees who served during the financial year and up to the date of signing were:
Anna Kalapurakkal - (appointed 3/3/2024) Samhita Manukonda - (appointed 23/03/2025) Anjali Santhakumar - (appointed 23/03/2025) Neha Susan Biju - (appointed 23/03/2025) Divyam Aneja - (appointed 23/03/2025) Suliman Saifullah - (appointed 23/03/2025)
Matjaz Vidmar - (appointed 8/3/2020) Nicholas Peter Shave - (appointed 7/3/2021) Katherine Courtney - (appointed 05/03/2025) Jacob Geer - (appointed 05/03/2023) Elizabeth Anne Jackson - (appointed 23/03/2025) Derek Harris - (appointed 23/03/2025)
Raniah Ahmed - (resigned 23/03/25) Divyanshi Gupta - (resigned 23/03/25) Tanjin Huda - (resigned 23/03/25) Mohamed Ali - (resigned 23/03/25) Lamyea Ahmed - (resigned 23/03/25)
CONFERENCES & EVENTS
National Student Space Conference (NSSC)
NSSC is UKSEDS’ flagship annual event, and the UK’s largest event for students and earlycareer professionals in space. It brings together students, early-career professionals, academics, industry leaders, and government to share knowledge of space, explore developments, inform on careers and pathways, develop skills, and more.
Diversity in Space Careers (DiSC)
DiSC is dedicated to promoting diversity and advocacy in the UK space sector. The conference works to make space more inclusive by tackling barriers faced by underrepresented groups.
Entrepreneurship Programme
A targeted initiative for students and early professionals that delivers
entrepreneurship training, networking opportunities, and a case competition designed specifically for the space sector.
Regional Events
A series of events ran in the UKSEDS regions to foster inter-branch collaboration and provide branches with the resources to host their own events.
Space Debates
An event where the audience is divided into two teams and debates on a statement about space. The session encourages critical thinking, teamwork, and an exchange of ideas about key issues in the future of space exploration.
Skills Workshops
Workshops and training sessions are hosted in collaboration with different industry partners to promote skills development.
Events and Outreach
The Events and Outreach Team advanced work on Space Debates and the Space Symposium in preparation for upcoming events, alongside increased
activity on outreach-focused social media through content development and planning. Satellite Workshops moved into early-stage preparation, with delivery planning beginning ahead of future rollout.
Careers and Skills Development
Careers and Skills Development delivered a five-part online AI/ML workshop series and a single iteration of the Space Entrepreneurship Programme in Edinburgh, delivered over two days with over 40 participants and six speakers. Following this delivery, the team began planning the next phase of activity, including the development of additional skills workshops, and early discussions around potential training topics.
Marketing
The Marketing Team leads UKSEDS’ communications across all external channels, including social media and the monthly Ecliptic newsletter. With 20,000+ subscribers across all platforms, the team promotes UKSEDS events, competitions, and projects, while also sharing wider opportunities such as internships, industry initiatives, and developments across the space sector, with the aim of strengthening UKSEDS’ visibility and engagement within the student and professional space community.
Systems
The Systems Team maintains the functionality of UKSEDS’ team workflows and supports volunteers and members by resolving system-related queries. We develop, refine, and manage UKSEDS’ internal digital tools to ensure they remain reliable, scalable, and fit for purpose. In addition, the Systems Team keeps UKSEDS competitive within the evolving digital landscape by researching, testing, and integrating modern solutions, including AI-enabled tools, that streamline workflows, enhance collaboration, and future-proof our operations.
Membership
The Membership team’s general approach is to maintain UKSEDS’ relationship with branches all over the UK and to play a pivotal role in the long-term development and support of the student space community. It achieves this via branch engagement through our monthly newsletters and an approach towards inter-branch collaboration and outreach via our regional events series.
Current Membership Statistics:
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5855 87 83
MEMBERS VOLUNTEERS BRANCHES
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Diversity and Advocacy
The team successfully closed the Pride Patch competition with strong community engagement and delivered DiSC, including programme coordination, speaker engagement, and both in-person and online delivery. Following DiSC, the team progressed post-event work including survey analysis, event round-ups, distribution of recordings and photography, and preparation of a survey-based paper for NSSC. Further activity included planning content for South Asian Heritage Month, anf for Disability History Month.
Operations
The Operations Team supports the day-to-day running of UKSEDS and works across the organisation to ensure effective coordination between all teams. The Communications Officer manages UKSEDS’ internal and external communications, the Partnerships Officer leads engagement with sponsors and external partners, and the Recruitment Lead oversees volunteer recruitment and onboarding processes. The volunteers report directly to the Executive Committee, reflecting their cross-organisational responsibilities and their role in supporting all UKSEDS teams.
Competitions
Olympus Rover Trials (ORT)
ORT challenges participants to perform trade-off analysis, design a rover, and present their work to space sector engineers through a demanding review process.
National Rocketry Championship (NRC)
NRC is a competition for participants to design, build and launch their own mid power rocket with a payload.
Satellite Design Competition (SDC)
SDC is a competition for participants to Design-Build-Test (DBT) their own CubeSat with specific payload systems and objectives.
In-Orbit Servicing, Assembly & Manufacturing (ISAM)
ISAM is a competition for participants to design their own space missions related to ISAM, and justify their proposals from both business and engineering perspectives to compete for a hypothetical mission investment.
FINANCES
During the year, UKSEDS maintained a strong and stable financial position, with income exceeding expenditure and a healthy year-end surplus. This positive outcome reflects careful financial management and a continued focus on long-term sustainability. A key contributor to this stability was grant funding, including support from the UK Space Agency (UKSA) for the delivery of the National Student Space Conference (NSSC), alongside additional funding received through sponsorship from companies. These funds were essential in enabling UKSEDS to deliver core activities while protecting the organisation’s overall financial health. We continued the approach of corporate-level sponsorships alongside traditional event- and activity-based funding, enabling us to better support essential but less visible areas of the organisation, such as ongoing operations, administrative costs, and the expansion of our activities, while continuing to deliver flagship activities including competitions and NSSC. Together, UKSEDS’ financial resilience has continued to grow, and we are in a position to plan for the long-term. The charity can confidently continue supporting students and early-career professionals and delivering meaningful opportunities across the UK space sector in the year ahead.
| 31 March 2024 - 30 March 2025 Accounts |
|
|---|---|
| Starting Balance | £57,072.36 |
| Income | £91,842.53 |
| Of which restricted | £39,550.00 |
| Expenses | -£103,497.63 |
| Of which restricted | -£43,981.43 |
| Closing Balance | £45,417.26 |
Restricted funds at 30/03/2025 UKSA - Launch programme rocketry: £29,550.00
The charity is constituted as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, registered on 27 February 2019 .
Charity's Full Name: UK Students for the Exploration and Development of Space Other Names Used: UKSEDS
Principal Address: UKSEDS, 27-29 SOUTH LAMBETH ROAD, LONDON, SW8 1SZ.
These accounts were approved on behalf of the UKSEDS board on the 24th January 2026 by Anjali Santhakumar, Treasurer for 2025/26 (executive trustee).
Anjali Santhakumar
Independent examiner's report on the accounts
Section A Independent Examiner’s Report
Report to the trustees/ Charity Name members of UK Society for the Exploration and Development of Space On accounts for the year Year ended 30 March 2025 Charity no 1182239 ended (if any) Set out on pages 1-12
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 30/3/25 .
- Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have examiner's statement come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
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accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
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the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Date: 26/01/2026 Signed: Name: FJ Wilde Relevant professional FCCA DChA qualification(s) or body (if any): Address: 4 Marigold Drive Bisley Surrey GU24 9SF
1
October 2018
IER
UKSEDS is primarily supported by the UK Space Agency, from which it received two grants that formed the core of its funding during the period. This support is complemented by the generous contributions of our corporate sponsors, whose backing further enabled the delivery of our activities and programmes.
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