The International Astrobiology School «Josep Comas i Solà» is co-directed by the NASA Astrobiology Program and the Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), INTA-CSIC, at the Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo (UIMP), sponsored by the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA) and European Space Agency (ESA) Academy. Held annually at the Palacio de la Magdalena in Santander, Spain, it is a well-established school for the astrobiology community. A week-long program for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows provides lectures from international experts, round-table discussions, student projects and presentations, a whole-day field excursion to a nearby site of astrobiological interest, and cultural activities provided by the hosting university. This program forges new relationships and helps build international collaboration in astrobiology.
Venue: Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo (UIMP), Palacio de la Magdalena, Santander, Spain
School website: https://www.uimp.es/
Download the program
2025 Summer School
● Title: “Origins to Organisms: Understanding Life’s Beginnings
● Dates: June 24-28, 2024
● Summary:
Essential questions in Astrobiology include: What is life? How and why did life emerge? Does life exist or has existed in places beyond the Earth? Is life a necessary consequence of the physical and chemical evolution of planets? What are the conditions for life to emerge and adapt to environmental changes? Just over a century ago, «The Origin of Life» (1924), by A. I. Oparin, revolutionized the approach to the study of life’s origins. Thus the XXI International Astrobiology School «Josep Comas i Sola» in 2025 is devoted to understanding life’s beginnings and the planetary context for life’s origin and evolution.
For one week four outstanding experts in the field –two American and two European– will lecture and guide discussion with 40 graduate students on key aspects of early Earth geochemistry, prebiotic environments, the formation of energy gradients, molecular complexity, the formation of polymers and the gain of functions, origin of metabolisms, and emergence of supramolecular complexes and protocells.
The Josep Comas i Solà Astrobiology School is a unique forum to foster and consolidate transatlantic relationships through science and culture. We hope you will join us!
Eligibility:
NASA sponsored grants: Students formally affiliated with US institutions. Please check https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/career-funding/astrobiology-summer-school/
ESA sponsored grants: Students who are citizens from ESA Member States, Canada, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia, enrolled as a undergraduate, graduate or PhD student in an university, studying or researching a subject which is related to one or more of the summer School topics.
Contact address: caballero@cab.inta-csic.es
Application form: link to document in pdf
Applications are due by 22 April 2025 2023
UIMP sponsored grants: Students enrolled in Universities from the European Union (as well as from other countries belonging to the European Higher Education Area, EHEA: http://www.ehea.info/page-members).
Contact address: csuarez@uimp.es (CC: cbriones@cab.inta-csic.es)
Application form: the webpage for the registration at UIMP will open in April.
