Chapter 3
The Newborn European Astrobiology
Institute, a Big Opportunity for Outreach
and Education
Caterina Boccato and Julie Nekola Nováková
Abstract The European Astrobiology Institute (EAI) is a consortium of European
research and higher education institutions and organisations as well as other stakeholders aiming to carry out research, training, outreach and dissemination activities
in astrobiology in a comprehensive and coordinated manner, and thereby securing
a leading role for the European Research Area in the field. EAI has six scientific Thematic Working Groups and seven activity Working Groups, among which
“Outreach, media and corporate identity” is the one we’re going to talk in this article
together with the “Education” Working Group.
3.1 The Context
3.1.1 General Features of the European Astrobiology
Institute
Fundamental questions in science like “How and when did life emerge on Earth?”,
“How did our solar system and life evolve and how will it develop in the future?”
and “Is there life on other celestial bodies?” will not be answered by one discipline
alone, but require a concerted and coordinated approach involving many researchers
with seemingly unrelated scientific backgrounds.
Also, the European research landscape is rapidly changing on a global scale.
Boundaries between disciplines disappear and new cross-disciplinary fields emerge.
Astrobiology is one of them. Research in such fields requires interaction and
C. Boccato (B) · J. N. Nováková
European Astrobiology Institute, La Palma, Spain
e-mail: caterina.boccato@inaf.it
C. Boccato
Istituto Nazionale Di Astrofisica, INAF, Roma, Italy
J. N. Nováková
Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
S. Montebugnoli and A. Melis (eds.), The Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence,
Springer Proceedings in Physics 260, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63806-1_3
13
The Newborn European Astrobiology
Institute, a Big Opportunity for Outreach
and Education
Caterina Boccato and Julie Nekola Nováková
Abstract The European Astrobiology Institute (EAI) is a consortium of European
research and higher education institutions and organisations as well as other stakeholders aiming to carry out research, training, outreach and dissemination activities
in astrobiology in a comprehensive and coordinated manner, and thereby securing
a leading role for the European Research Area in the field. EAI has six scientific Thematic Working Groups and seven activity Working Groups, among which
“Outreach, media and corporate identity” is the one we’re going to talk in this article
together with the “Education” Working Group.
3.1 The Context
3.1.1 General Features of the European Astrobiology
Institute
Fundamental questions in science like “How and when did life emerge on Earth?”,
“How did our solar system and life evolve and how will it develop in the future?”
and “Is there life on other celestial bodies?” will not be answered by one discipline
alone, but require a concerted and coordinated approach involving many researchers
with seemingly unrelated scientific backgrounds.
Also, the European research landscape is rapidly changing on a global scale.
Boundaries between disciplines disappear and new cross-disciplinary fields emerge.
Astrobiology is one of them. Research in such fields requires interaction and
C. Boccato (B) · J. N. Nováková
European Astrobiology Institute, La Palma, Spain
e-mail: caterina.boccato@inaf.it
C. Boccato
Istituto Nazionale Di Astrofisica, INAF, Roma, Italy
J. N. Nováková
Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
S. Montebugnoli and A. Melis (eds.), The Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence,
Springer Proceedings in Physics 260, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63806-1_3
13