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"Life Here, There and Everywhere”, April 2006 , The second conference of the Astrobiology Society of Britain has taken place at the University of Kent on April 18 th to 21 st, 2006.

  • Latest UKAC News: Download  the conference programme and abstract booklet

  • 01/04/06 : UKAC Updates

    Get the Conference Desktop from the Download section
    Get the UKAC 06 desktop from the download section
    If you have not registered please do so now. Walk’up registrations are possible on the day, but advance notice is better. In particular if needing accommodation on campus see below about the April 12 th deadline.

    - University Accommodation booking deadline April 12th

    Due to the Easter holiday anyone booking accommodation on campus at the University of Kent will need to do so before Easter. Applications will need to reach the organisers before Wed. 12 th April. This is a hard deadline due to the Easter holiday.

    Anyone wanting accommodation after that date will have to book direct with a private hotel/B&B/etc.

    - Car parking

    This will be available free of charge on campus during the conference. You will need to collect a voucher on arrival during Registration. You can then use any of the private car parks on campus unless spaces are specifically reserved for another purpose. See the interactive campus map available at http://www.kent.ac.uk/maps/ for car parks and directions to/around the campus.

    - Registration

    This will take place on campus on Tuesday April 18 th from 3 pm – 6 pm in the Ingram Building (H-4 on the interactive campus map). Those who are pre-registered will receive conference packs; those who need to register should bring means of payment. There will also be a reception from 4 pm onwards in the Ingram building.

    - Accommodation:

    Those who have booked campus accommodation can book in on Tuesday 18 th from 2 pm to 9:30 pm. On the day of departure keys must be returned before 10 am.

    If you booked a standard room you will be in Rutherford College (K-4 on the interactive campus map) and should collect keys from the Rutherford College Main Reception.

    If you booked an en-suite room you will be in Becket Court and should collect keys from Elliot College Main Reception (P-5 on the interactive campus map).

    - Meals

    A buffet lunch will be provided on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for all attendees.

    The conference dinner will take place on Thursday evening in the Darwin College (map reference E-5) dining room.

    To help judge numbers correctly please send your registration form in now.

    Those who have booked campus accommodation have a meal package included. This includes (self service) dinner in Rutherford College Dining Hall on Tuesday and Wednesday the 18 th and 19 th. Breakfast will also take place (self service) in Rutherford College Dining Hall on Wed, Thursday and Friday.

    - Programme:

    The talks will take place in the Grimond Building (J-6) lecture theatre 2.

    There will be small adjustments to the preliminary programme already distributed. Rather than make continual minor changes on different dates, these will all be announced at the meeting.

    Speakers should bring their talks on CD, Memory Stick or their own laptop. As a rule of thumb you will need to mount your talk during the tea/coffee/lunch break before your session. Speakers in the first session each day should arrive 30 minutes before the session starts to mount their talks.

  • The schedule of speakers is now available -
  • International Journal of Astrobiology agrees to publish a special issue devoted to work presented at the conference. Full details to follow shortly

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Topics covered:

The conference will cover all aspects of research related to astrobiology, including (but not exclusively):

Astrobiology Technology ▪ Mars ▪ ExoMars ▪ Panspermia ▪ Microbial Colonies ▪ Niche Environments ▪ Extremophiles ▪ Arctic and Antarctic Studies ▪ Meteorites ▪ Geomicrobiology ▪ Prebiotic Climates ▪ Human Life in Space ▪ Planetary Protection/Contamination ▪ Development of Life-forms in Other Environments ▪ Origin of Life ▪ Habitable Zones ▪ Terrestrial Type Extra Solar Planets ▪Education and Outreach

Accordingly, papers are solicited on all these (and related) topics.

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Conference Dates

Arrival and Registration will be during the afternoon of Tuesday 18th April, 2006.

The conference sessions will take place on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, 19th to 21st April.

The schedule is

Tuesday 18th April: Registration and Ice breaker social event late afternoon.

Wednesday – Friday: Conference sessions

There will be a conference dinner on Thursday 20th April. This is included in the Registration fee.

The last session will finish on the afternoon of Friday 21st April, with departures that afternoon.

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Deadlines:

Dec 1st 2005: 1 st Announcement (including details for registration)

Jan 30th 2006: Abstract submission deadline.

Feb 13th 2006: Speakers will be informed if abstracts have been accepted.

1st March 2006: Early registration deadline >> deadline now extended to 17th March

April 2006: Conference

Abstract:

Talk length: Most talks will last 12 minutes with some (short) time for questions after each talk. It is proposed that a few talks will last 25 minutes. These longer talks will be selected by the Organising Committee.

  • Abstract Booklet

A booklet of all abstracts (talks and posters) will be produced and distributed at the meeting.

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Registration fee:

There will be a Registration fee (which includes conference dinner) of £80 paid in advance before 1 st March. Those who register after 1 st March will pay a higher fee of £90.

There is a discounted rate for students of £50 (before 1 st March) or £60 for those registering after 1 st March.

Note: The registration fee does not cover accommodation. The only meal included in the Registration fee itself is the conference dinner. It is the Accommodation package which includes all other meals.

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Accommodation and Travel :
  • Travel to the conference:

The conference will take place on the Canterbury campus of the University of Kent. Travel details to reach the campus can be found in-line at: http://www.kent.ac.uk/maps/

This site includes an interactive campus map, and nearer the time, room venues will be announced and can be found on that map.

  • Accommodation:

This can be booked on campus, or attendees may make independent arrangements.

On campus accommodation is only available via this web site. 

The cost includes a meal package (Tues: Dinner, Wed: Breakfast, lunch, dinner, Thursday: Breakfast and lunch, Friday: Breakfast and lunch) and all relevant taxes are included in the price.

Typical room rates are:

  • En-suite: £213.75 for the full 3 nights.
  • Basic: (i.e. separate bedroom but shared washroom/toilet facilities) £159.75 for the full 3 nights.

A block of 80 en-suite rooms has been reserved, but en-suite rooms are popular and limited in number, so please reserve these early.

Attendees are responsible for all accommodation costs which have to be paid in advance.

Alternatively, the city of Canterbury runs a web based booking system for hotels and bed and breakfast establishments in the area. This can be found at: http://www.canterbury.co.uk/ If using this web site you should select the Canterbury area and not an outlying town as these can be hard to get to. Also please note that there are two main choices for accommodation, hotels and (generally cheaper) Guest Houses. Attendees are responsible for these accommodation costs and payment has to be made direct to the provider.

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Prizes:

At the Conference dinner, the Society will award the Society Prize for an outstanding contribution to Astrobiology in the United Kingdom.

Details will be given in the 2 nd Announcement, of how to nominate people for this prize, along with the selection method.

There will also be poster prizes awarded at the Conference for best posters displayed at the meeting.

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Astrobiology Society of Britain :

The Society was founded in 2003. It aims to disseminate information about Astrobiology in the United Kingdom and to encourage original research in the field. Details of Society can be found on their web pages at:

Attendance at the conference will confer two years membership of the Society.

Organising Committee:

The President of the Society for 2005-2006 is Dr. Alex Ellery of Surrey University. The Chair of the Conference Organising Committee is Dr. Mark Burchell (Univ. of Kent).

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General Enquiries:

These should be addressed to (email only) M.J.Burchell at kent.ac.uk. Please include Astrobiology2006 in your email header.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 14 August 2007 23:08
 

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