Executive Summary

We intend our project to introduce the topic of Habitability to the student body, crucially from a perspective that includes multiple disciplines from the beginning. There is currently no module on Habitability held by any department; beginning the development of such a module, which could be a longer term goal of the ICH, in an interdisciplinary framework will ensure such an outlook persists.

We will hold three workshops each involving ~30-50 post-graduate taught and research students, held once per month through the Summer term. These workshops could include discussion panels, combined with short talks addressing aspects of planetary habitability from the perspective of our different disciplines, ranging from exoplanet studies, through issues of planetary colonization, to the habitability of our own biosphere and the spaces we inhabit within it.

Each of these areas can be explored from the many different perspectives the students’ academic backgrounds provide. We ask for support to prepare, host and advertise these workshops, and provide refreshments at the time.

The legacy of our project will be an engaged body of students, who will have been introduced to habitability from disciplines outside their normal studies. We hope to continue engaging these students, using their own perspectives and ideas on the topic to further develop the ICH. This student body is an untapped pool which can potentially provide unorthodox insights and so lend a strand of student-led research to the work of the ICH, broadening our perspectives.