We want you at the table while we decide what comes next
In the long arc of human reach toward the cosmos, the European Space Agency has turned its gaze inward — toward the youngest minds in its orbit. By opening abstract submissions for its November 2026 Exploration Science Workshop in Rome to PhD students and early-career researchers, ESA is not merely filling a program agenda; it is making a deliberate wager that the future of space exploration belongs to those still in the early chapters of their scientific lives. Ten will be chosen, supported, and given a rare seat at a table where strategy is shaped and futures are decided.
- ESA's 2026 Exploration Science Workshop in Rome is not just a conference — it is a strategic gathering where the agency's Explore2040 roadmap will be actively debated and redirected.
- Early-career researchers face a structural barrier to influence in big-science institutions, and this call directly disrupts that by placing PhD students and recent graduates in front of the very delegations that control funding and priorities.
- Ten selected abstracts will unlock €1,000 travel grants, waived registration, and a dual-presentation slot — a rare convergence of financial support and professional visibility for researchers who typically have neither.
- The eligibility window — current PhD students or those who completed their doctorate after November 24, 2021 — is narrow enough to be meaningful and wide enough to capture a generation of researchers shaped by the current era of lunar and Mars ambition.
- Full submission details and special conditions have not yet been released, leaving interested researchers in a holding pattern as the deadline approaches for a November 24–26 event.
The European Space Agency is making an unusual move: not just inviting early-career researchers to attend its November 2026 Exploration Science Workshop in Rome, but actively recruiting them to present alongside established scientists and government delegations.
The three-day workshop, running November 24–26 at the headquarters of Italy's space agency, will cover research across Low Earth Orbit, lunar exploration, and Mars science. It will also serve as a formal update on ESA's Explore2040 Strategy — a moment where recommendations for the future of European space exploration will be shaped in real time.
ESA is seeking abstracts from two groups: current PhD students and researchers who completed their doctorate after November 24, 2021. Ten will be selected. Each receives a waived registration fee, a €1,000 travel grant, and two presentation opportunities on November 25 — a three-minute oral pitch followed by a poster session the same day.
What makes this more than a logistical opportunity is the audience. Selected researchers will present not only to fellow scientists but to ESA Member State delegations — the policy makers and government representatives who influence the agency's funding and direction. For someone early in a scientific career, that kind of access is genuinely uncommon.
ESA's framing of the call is deliberate: the agency describes early-career researchers as essential to the future of exploration science, positioning them not as junior attendees but as architects of what comes next. Full submission details and eligibility conditions are expected in the complete call for abstracts, which had not yet been released at the time of this announcement.
The European Space Agency is opening its doors to the next generation of space scientists. In November, the organization will host its Exploration Science Workshop in Rome, and for the first time, it is actively recruiting early-career researchers to present their work alongside established scientists and government delegations from across Europe.
The workshop runs for three days, November 24 through 26, 2026, at the headquarters of Italy's space agency in Rome. It is designed as a comprehensive showcase of exploration science across three domains: research conducted in or enabled by Low Earth Orbit, lunar exploration, and Mars science. The event will also serve as a formal update on ESA's Explore2040 Strategy and will shape recommendations for where European space exploration research should head in the coming years.
The agency is explicitly seeking abstracts from two groups: PhD students currently working toward their doctorate, and researchers who completed their PhD after November 24, 2021. This eligibility window reflects ESA's stated belief that early-career scientists are essential to the future of space exploration. The organization is not simply inviting them to attend—it is actively recruiting them to contribute.
Ten abstracts will be selected from the submissions. Those chosen will receive substantial support: their registration fee is waived, they receive a €1,000 travel grant to help cover the cost of attending, and they will have the chance to present their work twice during the workshop. On November 25, selected researchers will deliver a three-minute oral pitch followed by two minutes of questions, then present a poster that same day. This dual-presentation format ensures their work reaches both the room during the live talk and the broader audience that moves through the poster session.
The significance of this opportunity extends beyond the logistics. These early-career researchers will be presenting to a multi-disciplinary, international audience that includes not only fellow scientists but also ESA Member State delegations—the government representatives and policy makers who help shape the agency's priorities and funding. For a researcher early in their career, this kind of direct access to decision makers and established researchers in their field is rare. It is a platform that can reshape the trajectory of a scientific career.
ESA's framing of this call reveals something about how the organization sees its own future. By explicitly recognizing the vital role that the next generation plays in shaping space exploration science, the agency is signaling that it views early-career researchers not as junior participants but as essential architects of what comes next. The workshop itself—with its focus on updating strategy and formulating recommendations for future research directions—is a place where those architects will have a voice.
For PhD students and researchers within five years of completing their doctorate, the deadline for abstract submission and the specific requirements have not yet been detailed in this announcement. The source material references a "Special Conditions" section for additional eligibility criteria, suggesting that the full call for abstracts will contain more granular details about what kinds of research fit the workshop themes and what the submission process entails. Interested researchers will need to consult the full call when it becomes available.
Notable Quotes
ESA recognises the vital role that the next generation of researchers plays in shaping the future of space exploration science— European Space Agency
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why is ESA making a point of recruiting early-career researchers specifically? They could just open the workshop to anyone.
Because they're thinking about continuity. The scientists presenting now won't be the ones leading European space exploration in 2035 or 2045. ESA is essentially saying: we want you at the table while we're deciding what comes next.
But ten slots is a very small number. How competitive will this be?
Extremely. You're talking about PhD students and researchers from across Europe, all trying to get one of ten spots. But that scarcity is also what makes it valuable—it's not a participation trophy. Getting selected means your work was deemed significant enough to merit a platform in front of government delegations and senior scientists.
The travel grant is €1,000. Is that enough to actually get to Rome?
For many early-career researchers, especially those from Eastern Europe or further afield, it helps significantly. Combined with the waived registration fee, it removes a real barrier to attendance. But it's also symbolic—ESA is saying we'll cover the cost because we want you here, not because we expect you to fund your own professional development.
What happens after the workshop? Do selected researchers get ongoing support or mentorship?
The source doesn't say. That's the open question. The workshop itself is a three-day event. Whether it becomes a launching point for longer-term collaboration or funding depends on what happens in those conversations and what ESA decides to do afterward.
Why Rome, and why now in 2026?
Rome is the headquarters of Italy's space agency, so there's a practical and diplomatic reason. As for timing, 2026 is when ESA is formally updating its exploration strategy. They're gathering input on what's working, what isn't, and where to go next. Having early-career voices in that conversation shapes the strategy itself.