Astrobiology is a fairly new, but rapidly growing branch of science. It is not only of great interest to the scientific community, but also captures the attention of the general public to a large extent. Important astrobiological themes like the origin of life on Earth and the possibility of life on other planets have engaged thinkers at least since antiquity and will not be solved by one single discipline alone. To educate a new generation of scientists with the necessary multidisciplinary background to get new insights into these important questions, we propose the creation of a European Astrobiology Campus (EAC) under an Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership. In this virtual campus (which will not be a formal administrative entity) 10 European academic institutions and 2 non-academic entities that have previously been engaged in astrobiology research and possess ample experience in interdisciplinary training will cooperate to offer comprehensive, high-level training in astrobiology for a new generation of scientists capable to work beyond the boundaries of their own discipline. A varied range of activities are planned by the EAC. The EAC will offer a series of high-level courses about exciting interdisciplinary subjects covering the whole range of astrobiology, spanning from formation of habitable planets to the search for biosignatures on other celestial bodies. Also an introductory course for interested newcomers and a scientific summer camp for undergraduates will be offered. Novel tools like e-learning and training software will be used in these events. Furthermore, they will include scientific fieldwork at astrobiologically interested sites and other research projects like astronomical observations. This comprehensive course programme will be unique in the world and would be impossible to be organised by a single institution. It will also establish Europe as the leading training area in astrobiology, which will consequently attract top students from all over the world, binging about a “brain gain” for the European Research Area. However, training students in scientific skills is not sufficient to prepare them for an increasingly competitive European labour market. The Strategic Partnership therefore also will offer extensive training in transversal skills in cooperation with our non-academic partners, the scientific consulting company Innovaxiom and the science exhibition and communication centre Cap Sciences. During an internship at Innovaxiom students will be able to learn important capabilities like management, desiging successful (business) strategies, event preparation, public relations, production of promotional material, decision making and customer relations. Together with Cap Science, students will have the possibility to prepare an exhibition on an important astrobiological subject. These two collaborations will give students also an inside view of important employers of scientists with a multidisciplinary background: museums and consultants. In addition, the training efforts of the partnership will not be restricted to university students. It is equally important to train the lecturers to enable them to hold high-quality astrobiology courses and to overcome the difficulties in multidisciplinary teaching. The partnership will organise a workshop on education in astrobiology to allow lecturers to exchange experiences and to present novel course organisation teaching and assessment methods. A learning software package on the subject of the origin of life for use in high schools will be designed and textbooks both for school and university students are planned to be composed. Furthermore, the partnership will continue with a new edition of the Encyclopaedia of Astrobiology, the major reference work in the field, which will be ready at the end of the grant period. The partnership will also launch activities aimed for the general public. An instructive pathway “TimeTrek” covering the history of the Universe from Big Bang and an exhibition “River of Time” depicting the evolution of life on earth will be organised in several countries. Also the above-mentioned exhibition designed by students in cooperation with Cap Sciences will be translated and shown in many countries, thus increasing public awareness of atrobiology. Furthermore, the EAC will act as a communication and dissemination platform for astrobiology. Seminars by leading scientists on important new findings of astrobiological relevance will be organised and webcasted. Students will also have the possibility to present their own research finding at a special conference in astrobiology which will be organised and carried out by students and early career researchers. The proposed EAC will constitute a novel, cooperative approach to train the future generation of European Astrobiologists. It will also deliver valuable experiences in multidisciplinary training that can subsequently be used in other field.
The European Astrobiology Campus (EAC) was an initiative built for cooperative training and communication for students in astrobiology under Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership programme. Astrobiology is one of the newest and fastest growing branches of science. Although it has existed as an acknowledged scientific field for only around a decade, people have explored astrobiological questions such as the origin and evolution of life and the possibility of life on other celestial bodies since antiquity. Astrobiology is mainly centred around 3 issues: • Where, when and how did life emerge and evolve on Earth? • What are the conditions under which life can exist? • Does life exist elsewhere in the Universe and, if so, how can it be detected and identified? In Europe, a comprehensive astrobiology training programme has been missing. Astrobiology courses are offered only in few universities, but mostly only on elementary level. Also, the subject is generally not included in high school teaching. European Astrobiology Campus (EAC) was aimed for providing broad and comprehensive multidisciplinary education in astrobiology through courses at undergraduate to PhD level, and also to train lecturers. More than 250 students and also lecturers were trained in series of training schools over the project period. The EAC project involved 12 partners from 9 EU countries and Iceland - University of Tartu, Estonia; University of Turku, Finland; University of Bordeaux, France; Stockholm University, Sweden; Utrecht University, The Netherlands; The Open University, UK; University of Vilnius, Lithuania; Iceland University, Iceland; University of Porto, Portugal; Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia; Cap Sciences, France and Innovaxiom, France. It is of utmost importance that EAC cooperated not only within partners, but also with other European programmes as COST TD1308 ORIGINS and NASA Astrobiology Institute. This cooperation between institutions on an international level was necessary to provide training expertise that is not available within a single institution or even within a single country, and to allow students to meet colleagues from other institutions and thus identify future cooperation partners. It was also important that international courses were held at venues allowing practical field work, thus making it possible to combine theory with practice. Furthermore, the EAC included non-academic partners (Cap Sciences and Innovaxiom), that supplied training in transferable skills like management, proposal writing, outreach and press work etc. Experience shows that the job profiles of former astrobiology students are very diverse ranging from academia over authorities to private enterprise. Thus, there was a need to educate students in many different basic and transversal skills. Also, activities of EAC were not only aimed at students and lecturers, but also engaged the general public. The EAC completed a series of high-level courses about exciting interdisciplinary subjects covering the whole range of astrobiology, spanning from formation of habitable planets to the search for biosignatures on other celestial bodies. Also introductory courses for interested newcomers and a scientific summer camp for undergraduates were organized. Altogether 12 training schools/workshops were organized including scientific fieldwork at astrobiologically interesting sites in training school areas and also astronomical observations. These courses gained reputation among European students and also within the Astrobiology community in general. This comprehensive course programme was unique in the world and would have been impossible to be organized by a single institution. In addition to training schools in various subjects of astrobiology the Outreach training in transversal skills in cooperation with our non- academic partners was completed. During this training school students also designed astrobiology related board games that, together with other intellectual outputs aimed in science outreach and dissemination. In cooperation with International Astronomical Union (IAU) an International Symposium on Astronomy and Astrobiology Education – ISE2A was held in Utrecht The Netherlands discussing different aspects in teaching of this new field of science and to exchange experiences and to present novel course organisation teaching and assessment methods. With respect to aims of EAC, significant developments were made. The EAC have created pan-European astrobiology community among the students and teachers involved with astrobiology and through participation in EAC activities new people are joined to the community and have started their own research in Astrobiology. European Astrobiology Campus in tight cooperation with COST Action ORIGINS and H2020-Europlanet projects has initiated preparation of a European Astrobiology Institute (EAI) as a cross-border organization joining researchers, teachers and students in the astrobiology in Europe.