EANA 2021 - Welcome

The European Astrobiology Network association (EANA) celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. In addition to this landmark, Portugal was going to be the host country of an EANA meeting for the first time. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the EANA meeting will be online, but we will certainly have plenty of reasons to celebrate and have an exciting event!

To start with, and although not able to travel to the beautiful country of Portugal, you may virtually visit Portuguese Museums and Palaces (please check the "Virtual Portuguese Museums" Section).

The virtual EANA 2021 meeting will connect the international Astrobiology community, with an exciting and interactive programme for four half days from September 7-10, 2021 (2pm to 6pm (CET) every day). Registration is free of charge. The virtual meeting consists of invited keynote presentations, several oral presentations (abstracts to be submitted by the participants, free of charge), our well-known Space Factor student contest, as well as poster presentations. EANA 2021 is organized by the EANA 2021 LOC and the EANA Executive Board. For any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us via eana-web (at) eana-net.eu.

Registration

Deadline September 6, 2021

The registration is free of charge. By participating in the EANA 2021 meeting, you agree to follow the Code of Conduct.

Abstract Submission

Deadline July 2, 2021

The abstract submission is free of charge.

Abstract submission

Conference

Instructions on How to Use Zoom

Do you need an account to use Zoom?

A Zoom account is not required if you are strictly joining Zoom Meetings as a participant. If someone invites you to their meeting, you can join as a participant without creating an account.

How do I join a Zoom meeting?

You can join a meeting by simply clicking the meeting link that will be sent by the organizers. Depending on your default web browser, you may be prompted to open Zoom.

How do I join computer/device audio?

On most devices, you can join computer/device audio by clicking Join Audio, Join with Computer Audio, or Audio to access the audio settings. Learn more about connecting your audio.

In-meeting controls

Once you have joined a meeting, you may access the meeting controls located at the bottom of the meeting window (move your mouse in the Zoom window to display meeting controls). Learn more about meeting controls for attendees. You can also join a test meeting to familiarize yourself with meeting controls before joining a scheduled meeting.

Programme

Under construction. More news soon.

Tuesday, 07/09/2021

Under construction

Wednesday, 08/09/2021

Under construction

Thursday, 09/09/2021

Under construction

Friday, 10/09/2021

Under construction

Invited Keynote Speakers

Nathalie Carrasco

Titan's atmosphere, an endogeneous source of prebiotic molecules in the outer solar system
(University of Versailles Saint Quentin, Laboratoire atmosphères, milieux, Observations Spaciales (LATMOS))

Frances Westall

(Center for Molecular Biophysics, CNRS - Orleans)

David Ehrenreich

(Département d’astronomie, Observatoire Université de Genève)

Manish Patel

Exploration of Mars from above and below
(Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics,

School of Physical Sciences, Open University; and Rutherford Appleton Space Laboratory)

Space Factor Student Contest

Are you a student or early career scientist?
EANA encourages you to apply for the Space Factor student contest!

This contest is a great opportunity for you to present your research to the European Astrobiology community. It gives you the chance to get to know other students in the field; to gain new insights and ideas; to establish new contacts and cooperation; and to develop your own astrobiology network.

How will the contest be organized?
This year the contest will happen virtually on the September 8, 2021.

Around 10 selected students will contribute with a pre-recorded presentation (10 min each), which will be streamed live to the registered participants. A judge panel consisting of ~5 interdisciplinary experts will evaluate the contributions of all participating students according to pre-established criteria (e.g. communication skills, quality of research, etc.). Award certificates and monetary prizes will be granted by EANA to the 3 best presentations. The winner presentations can be made publicly available on the EANA website upon agreement with the authors.

Who can apply?
Master students in their last year (with a thesis/project), PhD students, and first-year Post-Docs, from all fields covering astrobiology and space-related sciences, are welcome to apply.

How should your contribution to Space Factor be?

Research content and scientific accuracy have to be there, but instead of being limited by formal PowerPoint presentations, the Space Factor invites you to let your creativity out! Think outside the box, and take the opportunity to practice your science communication skills. Prepare a video that can be used and shared beyond EANA and Space Factor. Think about communicating your research to a wider, multi-disciplinary, audience, think about the message you want to get across, and most importantly – have fun!

You can check the videos of Space Factor 2020 here.

Use them as inspiration, and notice that their styles are very different from each other. So, keep in mind that you do not have to do the “same” type of video. The key here is to be original: present us your own research in your own style.

How to apply?

Register in the EANA platform
Submit an abstract of your research via the EANA platform form until July 2, 2021.
Send us a short video (max. 1 min). In this video present yourself and your research and why you want to participate in the Space Factor contest. Keep in mind, this 1-min video should show your communication and creative skills. We are not looking for a formal video, but rather a fun and creative one! Always keeping in mind the research content, of course.

Send the video to student-contest (at) eana-net.eu before the same deadline as abstract submission (July 2, 2021). Please use a file-transfer platform (e.g. dropbox, gigamove, wetransfer, google drive, etc.).

For questions regarding the contest please contact the Space Factor student contest organizer Marta Cortesão (marcortesao (at) gmail.com or student-contest (at) eana-net.eu).

Space Factor Deadlines

July 2, 2021: Deadline for Space Factor application (1-min video and abstract submission)
July 17, 2021: Information on Space Factor selection
July 30, 2021: Final video deadline for Space Factor participants (10 min video) – send to student-contest (at) eana-net.eu and to marcortesao (at) gmail.com using a file-transfer platform (e.g. dropbox, gigamove, wetransfer, google drive, etc.)

Instructions on How to Vote on the Virtual Poster Session

How do I ask questions and vote on the Virtual Poster Sessions?

You may find the instructions here.

After that please go here and “Log in to EANA 2021”.

AbGradE

While the world is still fighting against the COVID pandemic, the AbGradE committee has already started organizing the next meeting. Due to the still unpredictable situation and the great success of last year’s meeting, we have decided to go again for an online-only “Virtual AbGradE 2021”. It will take place on September 2-3, 2021, i.e. the week before EANA 2021.

The AbGradE meeting will include keynote speakers, contributed talks and posters. “Virtual AbGradE 2021” will be a chance to show that the Astrobiology research family is still vibrant and motivated despite the COVID‑19 pandemic. This meeting should give early career Astrobiologists the chance to get a glimpse into the scientific world and to present their work in front of a friendly audience of peers.

We hope that the virtual nature of this meeting will allow many of our colleagues from around the world to join. Abstract submission is open until July 23, registration until August 31. To register, please follow this link. Detailed information about the abstract submission process (including a template) will be sent out via email after registration (not before end of April). When setting up the schedule for the meeting, we will keep in mind that our attendees and speakers will be situated in different time zones. All registered participants will receive an e-mail with the login data in due time (at the latest 1-2 days before the meeting).

If you have any questions, please feel free to write an e-mail to abgrade(at)eana-net.eu. In addition, please check our Facebook and Twitter pages for any news and updates related to the meeting.

We very much hope that you will be able to join us in cyberspace for “Virtual AbGradE 2021”!

Your AbGradE Committee