2023 – 2024

The EAI ACADEMY is an international educational program organised and broadcasted by the Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), CSIC-INTA, Madrid, with the support of the European Astrobiology Institute (EAI). It provides a framework to meet online with the international astrobiology community and to acquire interdisciplinary knowledge through a series of seminars given by experts in these fields. The Academy audience connects from more than 32 countries and all continents, with an average participation of 120 attendees per seminar. Past editions are accesible through the CAB youtube channel (2021-2022, 2022-2023).

The EAI Academy program for the academic year 2023-2024 will start on October 4th 2023. The seminars are offered for free and are streamed online via zoom every two weeks on Wednesday from 3:00 to 4:00 PM CET (Madrid time). The talks will be given by world-renowned experts, who answer the questions raised by the public after their talk. All seminars will be recorded for future availability in the CAB youtube channel.

At the end of the academic year, CAB awards a certificate of participation to those who attend a minimum of 10 seminars. In order for us to keep track of the attendance, you will need to enter your name and affiliation in the seminar chat when you enter the room (Zoom).

If you were part of the program in previous years your email is already in the distribution list and you DO NOT NEED TO SUBSCRIBE again. If you want to register to the EAI Academy distribution list, please include your information here.

-link to the google form-

Email distribution list subscriptions will close after October 2nd.

LIST OF SPEAKERS AND TOPICS

Dr. Armando Azua Bustos
Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), INTA-CSIC, Madrid
Spain

The evolutionary tree of life
October 4th, 2023

On the Current limits for detecting evidences of life on Mars

For almost 15 years I have roamed the Atacama Desert, the driest and oldest desert on Earth to characterize how life is able to survive in one of the most extreme environments on Earth. Recently we discovered a new site in the Coastal Range of this desert, Red Stone, finding that this site was a strikingly similar analog model of a river delta on Mars, such as Jezero Crater, which is being currently explored by the Perseverance Rover. In addition, this site allowed us to test some of the testbed instruments that are soon to be sent to Mars, finding that most of them are barely able to detect any biosignatures in Red Stone samples. Along the discovery that this site is inhabited by a number of bacteria difficult to identify even when having its diagnostic DNA sequences, the collection of findings tell us on the pertinence of what we consider to be one of the best analog model of Mars on Earth.

Dr. Nora Noffke
Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia
USA

Traces of early life on Earth
November 15th, 2023

Early Life on Earth Preserved in the Clastic Record

Dr. Guillermo Munioz Caro
Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), INTA-CSIC, Madrid
Spain

Prebiotic chemistry and the carbon cycle
November 29th, 2023

From C to COMs (where C = atomic carbon and COMs = Complex Organic Molecules)

Dr. Marco Moracci
Department of Biology, University of Naples, Naples
Italy

The evolutionary tree of life
December 13th, 2023

Life in extreme conditions: evolution on Earth and elsewhere?

Dr. Helmut Lammer
Space Research Institute (IWF), Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz
Austria

Evolution of planetary environments
January 10th, 2023

Early Phase of habitable planets

Dr. Manuel Scherf
Space Research Institute (IWF), Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz
Austria

Evolution of planetary environments
January 24th, 2023

The role of host star on the evolution of habitable Exoplanets

Dr. Silvana Pinna
Institut de Science et d'Ingénierie Supramoléculaires (ISIS), Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg
France

Prebiotic chemistry and the carbon cycle
February 7th, 2023

Topic related to "Prebiotic chemistry and the carbon cycle"

Dr. Nadia Balucani
Dipartimento di Chimica, Biologia e Biotecnologie, Universita' degli Studi di Perugia, Perguia
Italy

Prebiotic chemistry and the carbon cycle
February 21st, 2023

Prebiotic chemistry in the gas-phase

Dr. Frances Westall
Centre de biophysique moléculaire (CBM), CNRS, Orleans
France

Traces of early life on Earth
March 6th, 2023

Topic related to "Traces of early life on Earth"

Dr. Laura Sanchez
Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), INTA-CSIC, Madrid
Spain

Traces of early life on Earth
March 20th, 2023

Lipid biomarkers, those fatty guys key for the search of (early and extraterrestrial) life

Dr. Lena Noack
Planetary Geodynamics, Institute of Geological Sciences, Freie Universität, Berlin
Germany

Evolution of planetary environments
April 3rd, 2023

From the interior to the surface

Dr. Marta Ruiz Bermejo
Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), INTA-CSIC, Madrid
Spain

Prebiotic chemistry and the carbon cycle
April 17th, 2023

The complex chemistry of the HCN: Open questions in prebiotic chemistry

Dr. Laura Silva
Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF), Trieste
Italy

Evolution of planetary environments
May 15th, 2023

Climate and habitability of rocky planets

Dr. Ludmila Carone
Space Research Institute (IWF), Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz
Austria

Evolution of planetary environments
May 29th, 2023

The importance of magma oceans to constrain habitability

Dr. Barbara Cavalazzi
Department of Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna
Italy

Traces of early life on Earth
June 12th, 2023

Topic related to "Traces of early life on Earth"