Programme
The (hopefully) final schedule of the summer schoool (as an Excel file) can be found here.
The summer school will consist of 3 parts, the first and the third part will take place in Reykjavik, the second part (which includes field work and excursions) will be based at Hvolsvöllur in Southern Iceland, close to the field sites. The program includes:
Lectures by internationally leading scientists covering a broad range of astrobiology
In-situ life detection investigation of volcanic rock and glacier colonization
Excursions to geologically & biologically interesting sites (lava caves, new lava fields)
2 Poster sessions for students and early career scientists
Participant-led discussions about forefront-topics
Iceland is a uniquely suitable venue for the summer school, offering both easily accessible lava fields and glaciers in close proximity and an analog environment for NASA planetary exploration studies. The newly lava-covered areas stemming from the Eyjafjallajökull and Fimmvörduhals volcanic eruptions provides a unique opportunity for the envisaged field work. A preliminary schedule of the summer schoool (as an Excel file) can be found here.
Poster session
The poster sessions will be held on Tuesday, 3 July 2012 and Wednedsay 4 July 2012 18:30-20:30 at the Gullteigur room on the ground floor. A buffet dinner will be served then. Posters can be put up from Tuesday 3 July lunchtime on. Please remove the posters on 5 July in the morning at the latest.
Poster boards are white and have a width of 95 cm as well as a heigth of 1.80 m.
Participants will be allowed a 4 minutes presentation for their posters (no discussion). The presentation will take place in the Háteigur room (the ame as the lectures). Powerpoint slides can be used. For a smooth run of these poster talks, they are asked to bring heir talks o a memory stick or CD-ROM.
Student-led discussions
There is time scheduled for 4 student-led discussions on themes proposed by participants. Tue following subjects have been selected:
- The potential for life on Europa compared to Titan - hydrothermal vents versus hydrocarbon lakes . Proposer: Morgan Cable
- How similar to Earth must an exoplanet to be able to develop intelligent life ? What conditons must a planet fulfil to let life evolve from simple bacteria to more complex organism like mammals. Proposer: Julia Venturini
- Detection of biomarkers at ling distances. Proposers: Sukrit Ranjan and Gianni Cataldi
- How likely are extremophiles to develop on e. g. Mars ? Are they just extreme cases of what life can develop into ? or could life start out from such forms ? Proposer: Jarmo Korteniemi