What does it take to lead like an astronaut? Dr Niamh Shaw has trained as a Mars simulation astronaut, flown zero-gravity, and reported live from NASA's Artemis II Moon mission — and she brings audiences inside that experience to transform how they lead, innovate and perform under pressure.

Niamh is a space and polar explorer, engineer and leadership keynote speaker. She trained as a Mars simulation astronaut (Crew 173, Mars Desert Research Station, Utah), became the first Irish person to complete zero-gravity flight (Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre, Moscow), and has worked in some of Earth's most extreme environments — the Botswana Mars Analogue expedition on the Makgadikgadi Salt Pan, Antarctica, the Arctic and Chile's Atacama Desert.

Most recently, she reported live on NASA's Artemis II crewed Moon mission and the Crew-12 launch for BBC, Sky News and RTE, building a cumulative media reach of 30M+. She doesn't talk about space for its own sake — she uses it as a working lens for business: What does trust under isolation at a Mars research station teach us about high-performing teams? What does the Overview Effect — the cognitive shift astronauts feel seeing Earth from space — teach leaders about long-term thinking over quarterly pressure? What does surviving Antarctica teach us about resilience and change?

Audiences leave with genuinely new tools for leadership, innovation and decision-making — the same moonshot thinking that put twelve people on the Moon, applied to Monday morning's problems.

Niamh is Ireland's first and only ESA Champion for Education, a Fellow of The Explorers Club, Global Faculty at the International Space University, and has spoken at TEDx, WIRED Live and New Scientist Live.

A Fellow and Chartered Engineer of Engineers Ireland, Niamh holds a PhD in Science and Masters and Bachelor degrees in Engineering from University College Dublin. She is author of  her memoir “Dream Big: An Irishwoman's Space Odyssey” (Mercier Press). Her work has been recognised with the 2018 Outstanding Contribution to STEM Communication Award from Research Ireland, and she was named Woman in STEM at the Network Ireland Women in Business Awards 2026, going on to become a national finalist (results September 2026).

For any audience that needs to think bigger, move faster and lead through uncertainty — finance, technology, energy, professional services — Niamh brings the perspective of someone who has actually done it, and makes it land.