Coffee Meetings

3 September 2026
Muhammad Ghufran Rafique (Cambridge Biochemistry)
On the nature of Nature: Metaphysical language in the chemistry literature
An interdisciplinary examination of philosophical and conceptual language within chemistry.

22 October 2026
Christopher Cowie (Durham Philosophy)
The epistemology of assessing biosignature claims
Discussion of evidence standards, inference and uncertainty in biosignature detection.

5 November 2026
Muhammad Ghufran Rafique (Cambridge Biochemistry)
Title: DNA sequence as 'genetic' information in DNA nanostructure assembly
Molecular self-assembly and its relevance to biological organization and origins-of-life research.

2 April 2026
Uri Ryb (Hebrew University)
Title: Late oxygenation of marine environments revealed by dolomite U-Pb dating
Geochemical constraints on Earth's oxygenation history.

16 April 2026
James Rogers (Kavli Senior Fellow in Exoplanets, Cambridge)

30 April 2026
Alicia Anderson (University of Cambridge)
Exciting news about HARPS3
Update on the HARPS3 instrument and exoplanet detection efforts.

7 May 2026
Hilke Schlichting (UCLA)
Origin of Earth's water, homemade rather than delivered
Discussion of theories for the origin of Earth's water inventory.

14 May 2026
Sheref Mansy (University of Trento)

4 June 2026
Mukund Chorghade (THINQ Pharma)
Treatment and Cures for Aliens in Outer Space: Medications tested with Chemosynthetic Livers
Provocative exploration of xenobiology and space medicine concepts.

8 July 2026
Aaron Werlen (UCLA)
Sub-Neptune and Super-Earth interiors, evolution, and demographics
Planetary structure and population-level insights into intermediate-sized exoplanets.

15 July 2026
Greg Fournier (MIT)
Genetic Clocks, LUCA and More
Evolutionary timescales, molecular clocks and the Last Universal Common Ancestor.

6 August 2026
Roger Dufresne (DAMTP, Cambridge)
Updated UV radiation models for solar and stellar atmospheres
Advances in stellar UV modelling with implications for planetary atmospheres and habitability.

8 January 2026
Shoaib Malik (University of Edinburgh)
Islamic Perspectives on Exotheology
Interdisciplinary discussion connecting theology, philosophy and astrobiology.

15 January 2026
Edouard Barrier (IoA Cambridge)
Origins of Life on Deep Ocean Worlds
Consideration of habitability and prebiotic chemistry in ocean-bearing planetary bodies.

22 January 2026
Yarong Liu (Cambridge Zoology)
Crawling into the Future: How early animal movement disturbed the seafloor and reshaped marine ecosystems
Evolutionary and ecological impacts of early animal mobility.

29 January 2026
Gabriel Giger (ETH Zürich)
Endosymbiosis
Discussion of one of the key evolutionary processes behind eukaryotic life.

5 February 2026
Skyla White (Cambridge)
SOUP
Presentation on ongoing work associated with the SOUP project.

26 February 2026
Eric Smith (Santa Fe Institute)

5 March 2026
Greg Cooke (IoA Cambridge)
Ecological modelling of hycean worlds
Investigation of possible ecosystems and environmental modelling for ocean-rich exoplanets.

12 March 2026
Eric Smith (Santa Fe Institute)
Chance, Necessity, and Cause surrounding the Origin, Evolution, and Nature of Life
Broad theoretical exploration of life's emergence and evolution.

19 March 2026
Thanja Lamberts (Leiden Observatory)
Astrochemistry
Discussion of molecular processes in interstellar and planetary environments.

2 October 2025
Doug Lin (KICC)
Origin of freely floating planets, interstellar asteroids and comets
Discussion of planet formation and dynamical processes leading to rogue planets and interstellar small bodies.

15 October 2025
Kira Podolsky (MIT)
Through the looking glass: the ban on mirror life research
Special discussion session examining recent debates surrounding mirror-life research and associated biosecurity considerations.

16 October 2025
Sarah Rugheimer (University of Edinburgh)
Biosignatures
Overview of atmospheric and surface biosignatures relevant to life detection on exoplanets.

23 October 2025
Perig Pitrou (CNRS / Maison Française d'Oxford)
How can Anthropology contribute to an interdisciplinary definition of Life in the field of Astrobiology?
Exploration of how anthropological approaches can inform concepts of life across disciplines.

30 October 2025
Intro LCLU Coffee
Community-building session introducing the Lunar and Cross-disciplinary Life in the Universe (LCLU) programme.

6 November 2025
Amy Bonsor & Richard Anslow (University of Cambridge)
Exoplanet Composition
Discussion of planetary compositions and constraints from formation and observational studies.

13 November 2025
Paul B. Rimmer (University of Cambridge)
Prebiotic Plausibility
Examination of chemical pathways relevant to the origins of life and the plausibility of prebiotic scenarios.

20 November 2025
Nick Tosca (Earth Sciences, Cambridge)
Sulfur on Early Earth after a Giant Impact
Geochemical perspectives on post-impact environments and implications for planetary habitability.

26 November 2025
Eliel Anttila (ETH Zürich)
Volcanigenic mineral-associated organic carbon preservation in marginal marine sediments
Special discussion session focused on organic carbon preservation mechanisms.

27 November 2025
Clàudia Jano-Munoz (Cambridge Astrophysics)

11 December 2025
Paula Jofré (UDP Chile)
The chemical abundances in stellar atmospheres as fossil records of the Universe
How stellar abundances encode information about galactic evolution and planetary environments.