Europlanet Iberia: Planetary Science Community Building in the Spain & Portugal Regional Hub

Europlanet Iberia is the Iberian node of the Europlanet Society. Its main objective is to support the Spanish and Portuguese planetary science community, promoting the collaboration between all scientific and technology development institutions and research groups, reinforcing the participation of Iberian scientists and engineers in national and international space research programmes, and support the new generation of early career students, as well as promoting the collaboration with the amateur community via pro-am collaborations ensuring the visibility towards the public.

The Iberian Planetary Science Community has over >400 members, planetary researchers and engineers, distributed accross >70 research groups in >30 institutions.

We promote open discussions on the status of Planetary Sciences in the Iberian Peninsula, with a special focus on opportunities for scientific, technological and industrial collaboration at an international level, especially in Ibero-America.

The main activities of the Iberian hub in past years have been focused on networking of the planetary science community, promoting synergy between scientists and industry, reinforcing international collaboration, supporting the new generation of early-career researchers, collaborating with amateur astronomers and organizing public outreach activities, enhancing the accessibility and visibility of our community to achieve a greater impact on society.

Summary of activities:

• Biennial Congress on Planetary Sciences and Solar System Exploration (CPESS). Involving 200 participants from planetary groups of the main public research institutions and space technology development centres, including strong presence of the Space Industry and representatives from the State Research Agency and Spanish Space Agency.
• Biennial planetary meetings at the Scientific Meetings of the Spanish Astronomy Society (SEA). We organize public debates, promote the participation of planetary researchers in a dedicated planetary session and ensure the visibility of all solar system science within the wider astronomical community.
• Annual Awards for Student Theses and Amateur contributions: Europlanet Iberia organizes the annual awards in support of the new generation of planetary scientists, engineers and amateur observers in Spain and Portugal
  • Europlanet Iberia “Abraham Zacut” & "Pedro Nunes” Awards for best PhD and Master's Thesis
  • Europlanet Iberia Amateur Astronomy Award, for the best amateur contribution in solar system astronomy and exoplanets
• Support to Funding Calls: Europlanet Iberia has supported research, outreach and education projects via the Europlanet funding calls, resulting in many successful projects to maximize the impact and visibility of planetary science and technology.
• Iberoamerican collaboration: Europlanet Iberia collaborates with the IberoAmerican Space Agency Network, the Organization of Iberoamerican States (OEI) and the Spanish Aerospace Platform, for the organization of regular online webinars on space science, technology, policy, diversity, outreach and education addressed to the Iberoamerican community in Spanish and Portuguese language: "Técnicas para Observar Asteroides" and “Infraestructura planetaria y exploración espacial”, “Desafío Marte” and more.