Geraldine Olea

Biography

Geraldine Olea works where technology, policy and international relationships meet. Based in Canberra, she focuses on space, diplomacy and emerging technology, and on Australia’s ties across the Indo-Pacific and with Latin America.

As Director of Diplomacy at the Australia Latam Emerging Leaders Dialogue, she builds relationships with Latin American embassies and leads a team that spans Australia and Latin America. That work took her to Montevideo, Uruguay, for the OECD’s 11th Ministerial Summit, where she convened a side event on artificial intelligence and moderated its panel. Following the Summit, she co-authored a communiqué to the Council on Australia Latin America Relations at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Through Olea Pacific Advisory, she advises international space and technology organisations on how Australia’s policy and institutional landscape works in practice, drawing on her years across federal government and the space, defence and technology sectors. Her research spans the technical and diplomatic sides of space: she co-authored a paper on secure GNSS software systems presented at the 76th International Astronautical Congress in 2025, and her policy analysis ‘Whose Space Is It Anyway?’, published by Latam Link, examines how the language nations use shapes space cooperation and governance.

Geraldine’s own path into space, through tourism, employment services and technology, shapes how she supports others. She coaches professionals moving into technology careers through Academy Olea. She also mentors through CSIRO’s Young Indigenous Women’s STEM Academy, the Space Industry Association of Australia and the Australian Youth Aerospace Association. In 2026 she was named a finalist for Mentor of the Year at the Australian Space Awards. She works across English, Spanish and Portuguese.