Biennial European Astrobiology Conference (BEACON)

Posted at the request of Wolf Geppert

Biennial European Astrobiology Conference (BEACON)
The Biennial European Astrobiology Conference (BEACON) will take place at the La Palma & Teneguia Princess Hotel on La Palma Island (Canary Islands, Spain) from 20-24 April 2020. During this meeting also the 2nd General Assembly of the EAI will take place. Scientific sessions are planned covering the following themes:

• Formation and Evolution of Planetary Systems and Detection of Habitable Worlds
• The Pathway to Complexity: From Simple Molecules to First Life
• Planetary Environments and Habitability
• Evolution and Traces of Early Life and Life under Extreme Condition
• Biosignatures and the Detection of Life beyond Earth
• Historical, Philosophical, Societal and Ethical Issues in Astrobiology
• Tracing Life and Identifying Habitable Environments
• Impacts and their Role in the Evolution of Planets, Moons and Life
• Protoplanetary disks and their physical and chemical processes

There will be, amongst others,  the following keynote speakers at the event:

Daniela Billi, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy
Bertram Bitsch, MPIA Heidelberg, Germany
Joanna Drazkowska, LMU Munich, Germany
Michael Gillon, University of Liège, Belgium
Keyron Hickman-Lewis, CNRS, France
Lisa Kaltenegger, Cornell University, USA 
Nancy Kiang, NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre, USA
Silvano Onofri, University of Tuscia, Italy
Ana-Catalina Plesa, German Aerospace Center, Germany
Sarah Rugheimer, Oxford University, UK 
Eörs Szathmary, Eötvös Lorand University, Hungary

La Palma offers a multitude of  relevant research infrastructures (telescopes) and locations (active volcanoes, recent lava fields, Mars-analogue landscapes,  etc. During the conference excursion (Friday 24th April) many of these will be visited. An optional after conference walk (Saturday 25 April) along the Volcano route (Ruta de los Volcanes) spanning several active volcanoes above 1600m altitude will also be offered.