Supported by:
Participating institutions:
For all enquiries concerning the Network
please contact the Network coordinator:
Wolf D. Geppert,
Stockholm University,
tel. +46 8 55378649,
fax +46 8 55378601.
This year's meeting is devoted to the subject "The Warm Universe - Astrochemistry at Intermediate and Elevated Temperatures". Many different astronomical environments and objects showing higher temperatures (star-forming regions, protoplanetary disks, circumstellar envelopes, cometary comae as well as planetary and satellite atmospheres) exhibit very interesting chemistry. The HERSCHEL space telescope has delivered a lot of new data on many objects falling under this category and future observations with the ALMA millimetre array will explore their fine structure and chemistry. Aim of this event is to update experimentalists and theoreticians about new findings concerning warmer environments in space and, hopefully provide a forum to discuss new research ideas and projects. It will be a joint event with the European Union COST Action "The Chemical Cosmos: Understanding Chemical Processe in Astronomical Environments".
The theme might be a bit more on the astronomic/physical/chemical side, but geologists and biologists do not need to worry. Firstly there are sessions (e.g. "Impacts onto planets and satellites" and "Planetary and exoplanetary ionospheres") and secondly, we have one session with the general theme "Nordic Highlights in Astrobiology".The list of sessions is as follows:
Deadline for registration, accommodation booking and abstract submission: 15 April 2012
Information about the meeting is available on the website of the event.
Application to the summer school "Water, Ice and the Origin of Life in the Universe" is now closed. We thank all (the almost 180)applicants for their interest. Please do not forget that the recommendation letters of the referees must be uploaded by them on 10 February at the latest. Later arriving referee letters may be disregarded.
The selection committee now will evaluate the applications. Applicants will be informed about the outcome in the first half of March.
The Nordic Network of Astrobiology is a network of universities, other higher education institutions and research entities in the Nordic and Baltic Countries. Its aims to
No membership fees are charged. The Nordic Network of Astrobiology will apply for financial support for its activities from national and international research funding bodies. It is the duty of all teams to take part in this. The coordination group decides about the allocation of funds. Generally, it is expected that teams fund their own research activities and their participation in the Network, unless the Coordination group decides otherwise.
Funding for the Network had been secured by the Nordic Council of Ministers under the NordForsk scheme for 2007-2010 with a total amount of NOK 1 200 000,- for different networking activities.
Currently 15 research institutions are part of the network. 13 are located in the 5 different Nordic Countries. We have also one Estonian and one US institution. Furthermore the Nordic Network is an Affiliated Partner of the NASA Astrobiology institute since May 2011. For a complete list of the members please explore the menubar on the left. Members of the Coordination Group are listed on the Participants webpage.
A summer school entitled "Water, Ice and the Origin of Life in the Universe" will be co-organised from 2-15 July 2012 in Iceland by the Nordic Astrobiology Network and the NASA Astrobiology Institute. For detailed information about the summer school access the website of the event.
The first scientific conference of the network was held from 19 September to 21 September in Turku, Finland. It was entitled "Comets Rocks and life" and will feature talks by internationally renowned experts in the field. Fur further information please consult the website of the conference. During the conference the participants were also able to explore the new "Time Trek" astrobiology walking trail. Time Trek is a 13.7-kilometre trekking route from the Tuorla Observatory to the University of Turku that portrays the Universe's 13.7 billion years of history.
A summer school in Iceland entitled "Water, Ice and the Origin of Life in the Universe" was organised in Iceland 29 June - 3 August 2009 in co-operation with the NASA Astrobiology Institute. Furthermore, a winter school with the subject "Water and the evolution of Life in the Universe" was held in Hawai'i in the beginning of 2011. The Nordic Countries also hosted the Astrobiology Graduate Conference AbGradCon 2010 (Tällberg, Sweden 14-18 June 2010). Furthermore a satellite workshop for young Scientists to the European Astrobiology Network Association (EANA), held in October 2007 in Turku, was organised. We also held an one-day symposium in Stockholm in November 2009 entitled " Water Delivery on Early Earth " in co-operation with the Swedish Astrobiology Network (SWAN).
Please check the respective links for Network events.
The statutes of the network containing information about joining it can be downloaded here as .doc and here as a .pdf file.