CAREX (www.carex-eu.org) is a Coordination Action funded by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). This project, coordinated by the British Antarctic Survey, involves nine European Core partners and 45 European and non-European Associated partners.

The two main objectives of CAREX project are:

• to strengthen the structure of the (European) community involved in life in extreme environments research by catalysing networking and interactions among it
• to further the knowledge of life in extreme environment by developing a strategic research agenda in this field.

CAREX Core Partners:

• Natural Environment Research Council, British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK (NERC-BAS) - Cynan Ellis-Evans (Coordinator)
• Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France (CNRS) – Daniel Prieur
• Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche – Istituto di Biologia Agro-ambientale e Forestale, Monterotondo Scalo (Roma), Italy (CNR-IBAF) – Francesco Loreto
• Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., Germany (DLR) – Petra Rettberg
• European Science Foundation, Strasbourg, France (ESF) – Nicolas Walter
• Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer, Plouzané, France (Ifremer) – Nadine Le Bris
• Institute of Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Trebon, Czech Republic (IB-CAS) – Josef Elster
• Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial – Centro de Astrobiología, Spain (INTA-CAB) – Ricardo Amils
• MATIS – Prokaria, Reykjavík, Iceland (MATIS) - Viggó Marteinsson

CAREX started its activities in January 2008 and will last three years. It encompasses, among other things, three large scale interdisciplinary workshops and the development of an interactive website, including a databases of experts and projects.

Contact:

CAREX Website: www.carex-eu.org

CAREX Coordinator: Dr. Cynan Ellis-Evans, BAS (email)

CAREX Project Manager: M. Nicolas Walter, ESF (email)