Our 2025 cultural and integrated promotion kicks off with some important initiatives aimed at strengthening Italian-Ethiopian collaboration in the fields of higher education, scientific research and technological innovation.
Scientific conference
“Astrobiological Exploration on Earth. The HELENA Project and the Study of Extreme Environments in the Afar Region of Ethiopia”
HELENA is a project, funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and promoted by the University of Bologna together with the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) and the Universities of Bari, Tuscia and Chieti-Pescara – International Research School of Planetary Sciences (IRSPS).
The research project is coordinated by Barbara Cavalazzi (Full Professor of Astrobiology at the University of Bologna) and aims to characterize, from an astrobiological perspective, extreme environments such as those present in the Afar region, associated with volcanic and hydrothermal activities, deepening our understanding of the limits of life and its extraordinary capacity for adaptation. The Afar region hosts some of the most extreme environments in the world, with “polyextreme” conditions: an arid climate, intense seasonal evaporation, high temperatures of thermal waters, pH ranging from slightly acidic to strongly alkaline, high salinity and a significant presence of metals and other chemical elements resulting from the interaction of water with volcanic materials such as rocks, gases and thermal fluids.
These extreme environments, although hostile, support complex and diverse ecosystems. Their exploration has great astrobiological potential: studying how life on Earth adapts and thrives in such adverse conditions can offer crucial clues to how life may have developed or could survive on other celestial bodies, where extreme conditions are the norm.
