The student team of the Deák Ferenc Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of Széchenyi István University has achieved the best results ever in the European regional final of the annual international space law moot court competition. The trio of Dorina Bosits, Barbara Horváth and Leon Maszlov finished in 6th place at the prestigious international competition.

Apart from the high quality academic work, Széchenyi István University focuses on supporting students' participation in international competitions. For six years now, the Ferenc Deák Faculty of Law and Political Sciences has been running a student team at the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition, where they achieved their best result ever this year. Just a few points behind the semi-finalists, Dorina Bosits, Barbara Horváth and Leon Maszlov finished in 6th place in the regional finals held at the University of Vienna from 8 to 12 April.

The photo of the team and their official coaches from Széchenyi István University shows, in the top row from the right: Professor Gábor Sulyok, Associate Professor Mónika Ganczer, Leon Maszlov, Barbara Horváth and Dorina Bosits.

The competition traditionally simulates a debate between two fictitious states at the International Court of Justice in the Hague. This year's case focused on the problems associated with satellite megaconstellations, the requirements of dark and quiet skies essential for astronomical observations, and the international space law issues of damage caused by collisions of space objects.

Over the course of the preparations lasting more than half a year, the students from Győr prepared the two states' written submissions in English, each of which was about 60 pages long in compliance with the format, structure and wording of the court filings submitted to the International Court of Justice. In addition to a broad and precise knowledge of international law and space law, the resolution of the case required the study of the jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice and other judicial fora, as well as a basic technical knowledge of the construction, operation and movement of satellites.

In the oral round of the competition, the students from Győr performed outstandingly and confidently, each time clearly outperforming the opposing litigants and almost reaching the semi-finals.  The Greek students competing against the experienced Dutch team won the final of the competition.

The Hungarian students were assisted by lecturers from the Department of International and European Law, with official coaches Gábor Sulyok, professor, and Mónika Ganczer, associate professor, who acted as coach and assistant coach. The professional work prior to the excellent result was also supported by Associate Professor Gábor Kecskés and Assistant Professor Dalma Takó.