Evolution of complex contemporary life

One of the most profound unanswered scientific questions is how life evolved from its simplest early beginnings to complex global ecosystems. Life itself originated as a result of the confluence of many steps, including the emergence of planetary conditions allowing for the origin of life, the emergence of molecules relevant to life, and the emergence of Darwinian evolution. Life subsequently evolved from its earliest cell-like form into the stunning biodiversity present on our planet today. While planetary processes and properties have been determining the boundary conditions for life, planetary evolution itself may be strongly affected by the evolving life it sustains. Through a series of key events, this eventually led to the evolution of the complex life forms that inhabits our planet.  

After the origin of life, a series of key events led to the evolution of complex contemporary life. This included the separation between genotype and phenotype, the emergence of prokaryotic cells, eukaryotes and multicellularity, and the diversification of complex life forms. Meanwhile, the planetary conditions have dramatically changed, and have shaped, and have been shaped by, life. Unravelling the processes and events that resulted in the evolution of complex contemporary life requires ground-breaking research across disciplines, including planetary sciences, molecular biology, cell biophysics, evolutionary genetics and mathematical biology. 

To facilitate and promote research across these different scientific domains, the Origins Center was created in 2017. The Origins Center is the national knowledge center for research into the origins and evolution of life on Earth and in the universe. In 2022, it published a Research Agenda in which twelve important historic events and their coherence are mapped out. This Research Agenda is our backbone, detailing where the Origins Center foresees to make significant progress in the next five to ten years. These topics can be broadly grouped into two overarching themes: 

Theme 1) the origin of life on earth-like planets and moons 
Theme 2) the evolution of complex contemporary life forms, from the first cell-like life 

We need to build multidisciplinary teams of researchers that can submit consortium grant proposals to tackle these major questions. The first consortium grant that we would envision would be based on the NWA call "Research within Routes" or the NWO Gravitation or ENW-XL calls.

Workshop Aim:

With this workshop, we will initiate a communal implementation plan for the "evolution of complex contemporary life" (theme 2). This workshop brings together scientists that want to take a leading role in forming consortia. The aim here is specifically to translate a set of broad research questions of the Research Agenda into a set of explicit research objectives that can be developed into an integrative research proposal. The Lorentz Center workshop will aid in developing the central themes, as formulated in the Research Agenda, into short- and long-term research objectives for which we can then start exciting new interdisciplinary collaborations in the coming 5-10 years. The Lorentz workshop will be an incubator for bringing together researchers that are leaders in the relevant different disciplines, to foster and initiate the development of consortia that can tackle these explicit research plans.  

The workshop will consist of a combination of short talks to educate each other on the current state-of-the-art in their respective research field, two international keynote speakers to inspire, and break-out sessions to find one another for the development of explicit and achievable research goals and plans. The entire process towards the formulation of collaborative research proposals is expected to require a sustained dialogue and interaction over a prolonged period of time, to learn from each other, and to find the scope for synergy and major scientific advances. The Lorentz workshop will kick-start this process for the long run.