NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI)

The European Exo/Astrobiology Network Association (EANA)

Gerda Horneck
President, EANA
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Institute of Aerospace Medicine
Radiation Biology Section
Gerda.Horneck@dlr.de

http://www.astrobiologia.pl/eana/

The European Exo/Astrobiology Network Association (EANA) was established as an Affiliate Partner of the NASA Astrobiology Institute in early 2002, with the signature of formal affiliation taking place in Graz, Austria on September 19th at the Second European Workshop of Exo/Astrobiology. EANA itself was created in 2001 to co-ordinate the different European centers of excellence in exo/astrobiology, and the related fields previously organized in paleontology, geology, atmospheric physics, planetary physics and stellar physics.

The purpose of EANA is to co-ordinate research expertise and facilities at the European level. Its specific objectives are to:

• bring together active European researchers and link their research programs
• fund exchange visits between laboratories and the sharing of facilities for research
• attract young scientists to participate practically in this evolving interdisciplinary field
• create a website establishing a database of expertise and facilities to avoid duplication of effort and to optimize the sharing of resources
• promote this important field of research to European funding agencies and politicians
• promote research on extremophiles of relevance to environmental issues in Europe
• interface with the Research Network with European bodies (e.g. ESA, and the European Commission)
• promote public interest in astrobiology, and to educate the younger generation who are tomorrow’s scientists

EANA is administered by an Executive Council consisting of national members presently representing 17 European nations active in the field: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, and The United Kingdom.