Fennar
Ralston
Principal Consultant, NGIS (part of CLS Group)
Director, FJRResearch Ltd, Bristol
Fennar Ralston helps governments and businesses across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas put satellite Earth observation, mapping and mobility data to work.
Comments on
- Space policy
- Geopolitics of space
- Commercial space
- Earth observation
- Climate monitoring from space
- Transport and mobility data
- Smart cities
- AI and technology
Proof
- GoogleSpoke on stage at AI for the Planet, London Climate Action Week, 23 June 2026
- NASA, Planet LabsResearch partnership between NASA, Planet Labs, NGIS and Skyris
- 12,600LinkedIn followers
Watch
On stage at Google
Google Sustainability, London, 23 June 2026
AI for the Planet 2026
Play from 3:00:57
Next talk
From traffic data to faster, safer cities
- Event
- Smart City Expo World Congress, Barcelona
- Date
- Wednesday 4 November 2026, 10:30 to 11:00
- Where
- Google stand B101, Pavilion 3
- With
- Dimitris Tzanis, CERTH
Work
NGIS, FJRResearch, Skyris and Cyber Tec Security
NGIS (part of CLS Group)
Fennar Ralston is a Principal Consultant at NGIS, part of CLS Group, where he helps governments and businesses across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas put satellite Earth observation, mapping and mobility data to work. He works closely with Google and Planet Labs.
FJRResearch Ltd
He is also Director of FJRResearch, a Bristol-based research company covering the UK space sector, space policy and the geopolitics of space. His research combines open data with fieldwork and direct conversations with people across government and industry.
Skyris
Founder of a privately held organisation focused on the identification, tracking and predicting the spread of invasive plants across the globe.
Organised an international research partnership between NASA, Planet Labs, NGIS and Skyris.
Cyber Tec Security
Grew with the company from near formation to the third-largest Cyber Essentials certifying body.
Founded the company blog, the leading Cyber Essentials blog at the time.
Writing
Selected writing
LinkedIn, 27 August 2026
Britain should not catch up in space. It should leapfrog.
Opinion piece on UK space strategy, published on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn, September 2026
The Moon will need an intelligence layer
Opinion piece on persistent observation of the Moon as lunar infrastructure develops, published on LinkedIn.
Lakes Business, October 2024
Saving The Planet From Space
Feature profile, October 2024, on Fennar's work developing the first system to use satellite imagery to identify invasive plants by their seasonal growth patterns.