During the last decades research in geosciences has become increasingly interdisciplinary. This is due to the fact that fundamental questions in science like “Which role did geological processes play in the origin of life on Earth?”, “How did the geosphere, biosphere and atmosphere interplay during the emergence and evolution of terrestrial life” and “Which geological and geophysical conditions ae necessary for the appearance of life on other celestial bodies” will not be answered by one discipline alone but require a concerted and coordinated approach involving many researchers with seemingly unrelated scientific backgrounds. Thus, boundaries between disciplines disappear and new cross-disciplinary fields like geochemistry, geobiology and astrobiology emerge. To be successful in such interdisciplinary fields the European research community needs to

• foster interdisciplinary research projects
• train the next generation of scientists in multidisciplinary research
• convince decision makers about the necessary of interdisciplinary research and training
• alert the general public to highlights of interdisciplinary research

Research in interdisciplinary fields opens a multitude of perspectives for researchers. Also, many of them meet lively interest of the general public. However, there are also challenges to be met: Firstly, researchers have to learn the language of fields seemingly unrelated to their own. Secondly, traditional curricular at universities might not always be open to or include interdisciplinary fields. Thirdly, there is always the chance of pseudoscience gaining ground.
In the proposed session following items could be discussed:

• Training in interdisciplinary fields like astrobiology: Experiences, chances, challenges and pitfalls
• Which channels and methods are apt to engage the general public (e.g. How can science fiction be used to interest people in research)
• How can we use interdisciplinary research areas to motivate young people to embark on a career in science?
• How to create efficient and sustainable European structures to coordinate and promote research in interdisciplinary fields

The experience of new structures like the European Astrobiology Institute in those areas could be of great value for other emerging interdisciplinary subjects. To our minds, such a session would be timely in a changing European science landscape.