Within the Master in Air and Space Law program, the College of Law at the University of Sharjah held a scientific symposium under the title "Challenges Facing Air Law and Space Law during the COVID-19 Pandemic." Prof. Maamar Bettayeb, Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies, attended the Symposium along with Prof. Imad Eldin Abdul Hay, Dean of the College of Law, Dr. Ahmed Farah, Vice Dean, faculty members, students enrolled in the program, and many legal figures and stakeholders from inside and outside the University.

During the Symposium, Prof. Maamar Bettayeb praised the scientific and research effort of the College, and the commended the development achieved by the Master of Air and Space Law program in a short period of time as it became a distinct success story. He also complimented the choice of topic for the Symposium due to its importance at the present time and praised the purposeful scientific activities that the College of Law organizes.

The Symposium dealt with one of the most important topics at the present time, which is the challenges facing air and space legislation considering the COVID-19 pandemic. Prof. Faisal ben Halilo, Professor of Public International Law at the College, chaired the sessions of the Symposium.

The first paper, titled "The Effects of COVID-19 on Air Transport of Goods - The Hopeful Future," by Dr. Eman Naboush, assistant professor of air law in the program, dealt with the impact of the pandemic on air transport of goods. She stressed that this service should be exempted from the restrictions applied by some countries in light of the issuance of a set of recommendations by the relevant international organizations aimed at ensuring the continuation of air transport of goods safely and in a way that prevents the spread of the pandemic.

The first paper, titled "The Effects of COVID-19 on Air Transport of Goods - The Hopeful Future," by Dr. Eman Naboush, assistant professor of air law in the program, dealt with the impact of the pandemic on air transport of goods. She stressed that this service should be exempted from the restrictions applied by some countries in light of the issuance of a set of recommendations by the relevant international organizations aimed at ensuring the continuation of air transport of goods safely and in a way that prevents the spread of the pandemic.

The third paper presented by Dr. Shadi Adnan Alshdaifat, Associate Professor at the Department of Public Law, discussed the extent of the spreading possibility of pandemics to outer space and how to respond to confronting it if reached space. As for the fourth scientific paper, Assistant Professor of Space Law in the program, Dr. Philip de Man spoke about the mechanism for protecting planets from viruses, and questioned whether it is time to review pollution guidelines, and explain the importance of the planetary protection policy that the Space Research Committee follows, which deals with reducing the biological risks posed by extraterrestrial materials carried on board a spacecraft returning from space.

As for the last paper, it discussed the repercussions of COVID-19 on the space sector. A distinguished team of students of the program presented this paper in which they explained the consequences of the pandemic on various economic sectors such as aviation, air transport and space.