Mahdollisuus osallistua eurooppalaiseen astrobiologiaverkostoon
Astrobiologia on kovassa nosteessa maailman eri mantereilla, ja jos ei pelkästään sillä nimikkeellä, niin myös siksi että paljon erilaista perustutkimusta (planeettatutkimus, aurinkokuntatutkimus, elämän synty ja evoluutio, geokemia, ilmastotutkimus…) tehdään muutenkin juuri sellaisista aiheista, jotka ovat ihan keskeisiä kysymyksiä astrobiologiassa. Astrobiologia syntyy näiden kaikkien yhdistelmänä, siten että näiden isojen aiheiden tutkijat haluavat linkittyä keskenään.
Euroopassa tuota linkittymistä on harrastettu jo vuodesta 2001 alkaen, jolloin pidettiin ensimmäinen EANAn. Monenlaisten yhteistyöfoorumeiden kautta astrobiologia-yhteistyö on edennyt niin että nyt ollaan perustamassa Euroopan astrobiologia-instituuttia. Siitä asiasta on tässä alla Wolf Geppertin esittely, sekä avoin kutsu liittyä instituuttia suunnittelevaan keskustelufoorumiin. Kannattaa liittyä, siellä on ihan aiheellista keskustelua käynnissä:
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Dear Colleagues,
In addition to the long-standing “European Astrobiology Network Association (EANA)”, several new European networking initiatives have been launched over the last years, such as the COST Action “Origins and Evolution of Life on Earth in the Universe” (http://www.life-origins.com/), the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership “European Astrobiology Campus” (http://astrobiology-campus.eu/) and the FP7 project “AstRoMap”. The European astrobiology community has thus gained in maturity and coordination. To build on this momentum and take European Research in astrobiology to a higher level the launch of a European Astrobiology Institute was proposed. This entity will be a virtual institute consisting of research and higher education institutions and organisations as well as other stakeholders aiming to carry out research, training, outreach and dissemination activities in astrobiology in a comprehensive and coordinated manner and thereby securing a leading role of the European Research Area in the field.
An Interim Board was formed consisting of members and employees of the main stakeholders in this field in the European Research Area (ESA, ESF, ISSI, German Aerospace Centre, CNRS, CNES, INAF, Europlanet, EANA, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Centro de Astrobiología, etc.) to prepare the creation of the EAI. It has elaborated a draft Action Plan mapping out the tasks, structure, governing bodies, activities, funding and administration of the EAI. This Action Plan has been finalised and is now open for discussion with the whole European astrobiology community in summer 2018. Recruitment of institutions is planned to place in autumn and winter 2018/19 and the first General Assembly of the EAI is planned for late spring 2019.
A preliminary website of the European Astrobiology has been set up at:
http://www.europeanastrobiology.eu/
The Interim Board invites all members to discuss the plans for establishment of the European Astrobiology Institute. To facilitate the discussion, we have created a Google Group on the EAI. To join please do the following:
1. Access the Google Group ”European Astrobiology”
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/europeanastrobiology
2. Ask to join
or alternatively write a message to wgeppert@hotmail.com and you will be sent an invitation. To join you should be affiliated to a Research and/or Higher Education Institution or research organisation in Europe. The Interim Board, however, reserves the right to refuse participants to the forum if their connection to astrobiology or research in general is unclear. In accordance with general regulations of Google any kind of insult and slander against individual persons or Institutions and groups will result in the sender being removed from the Google Group.
Relevant documents (Action Plan, Executive summary, Communiques of the meetings of the Interim Board, a promotional folder for the EAI and a proposed time plan for the implementation of the institute) can be downloaded at the webpage:
http://europeanastrobiology.eu/documents.html
We are looking forward to reading your viewpoints and discussing the future EAI with you.
Best regards,
Wolf Geppert
in the name of the Interim Board (the full list of the Interim Board can be found at http://europeanastrobiology.eu/interim-board-1.html)