Rebecca Connolly is a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s GeoTech Center. She is the current chair of the board of the Space Law Council of Australia and New Zealand. Connolly is an adjunct senior lecturer and leads the international space law research and teaching program at the University of Sydney Law School. She is the 2025 McCain Fulbright scholar at the United States Naval Academy, where she taught on space power and international law. Connolly was also the Australian 2023 Thawley scholar in international security, conducting policy research on space and national security. She is also the chief executive officer of the SpaceCyT Institute based in Australia. 

Connolly has guest lectured at Harvard University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. She earned her Master of Laws and her PhD from the University of Sydney. Her research focuses on the intersection of strategy and legal governance for outer space relating to commercialization, militarization, and security.