What is the Origins Center
The Origins Center is a Dutch initiative that aims to bring together a broad range of scientific disciplines to address one of the biggest challenges in science: the origin, or origins, of life on earth and in the universe. Its aim is to spark and facilitate transdisciplinary research between scientists associated with Dutch universities and research institutes that addresses the following five gamechangers:
News & events
Vacancy: Apply before 25 May
The Origins Center is recruiting a postdoctoral research fellow w ...Vacancies
Two vacancies in Origins of Life/chemical evolution research 1. P ...Kick-off for Origins Center
The Origins Center, in which Dutch scientists work together to an ...
Fundamentals of Life in the Universe Symposium – August 31 & September 1, 2017, University of Groningen
We organize a two-day symposium “Fundamentals of Life in the Un ...
Origins Center inaugurated on 31 August 2017
On 31 August and 1 September 2017, the Energy Academy on the camp ...
Disciplines represented in the Origins Center include astronomy, biophysics, chemistry, ecology and evolution, mathematics and computational science, molecular biosciences, and planetary and geosciences.
History of the Origins Center
The Origins Center sprang from the Dutch National Science Agenda. This agenda came about after a nation-wide consultation, in 2016, of the general public regarding the problems scientists should focus on. The response was distilled down to 25 key topics. The question of the origin, or origins, of life on earth and in the universe emerged as one of the most fundamental of these. In 2016 and 2017, a number of workshops were organized bringing together scientists from a diverse spectrum of background to elaborate this topic. The momentum and enthusiasm that arose in the process culminated in founding the Origins Center.