Astrobiology

The Astrobiology Research Group is an interdisciplinary research community focusing on fundamental questions about life beyond Earth. Our academics, postdocs and postgraduate students are drawn from the School of Physical Sciences and the School of Earth, Environment and Ecosystems Sciences, and we collaborate with researchers from the faculties of Business and Law and Arts and Social Sciences. We're also supported by a team of excellent laboratory staff.

Our research focuses on:

• understanding life in extreme environments on Earth and beyond
• understanding potentially habitable environments in the Solar System
• identifying chemical and geochemical signatures that could be used as evidence of the presence or absence of life
• investigating the survivability of microorganisms and their biosignatures.
• planetary protection challenges associated with life detection missions
• ethical and societal challenges associated with astrobiology

Our practical approach to astrobiology combines field-work, laboratory simulations and modelling, and we are involved in key astrobiology-related missions. Our work is fundamental for understanding the environmental conditions in other planetary environments that can inform future life detection missions, and is crucial for understanding the data (or samples) returned by such missions.