June, 2009 The program called “From the Earth to ‘Earths'” was selected as a Global COE Program of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) aimed at providing focused support for formation of superior international educational research centers. The program became the predecessor of the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI).
October, 2012 ELSI was selected as one of the research centers designated in the World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI) of MEXT.
December, 2012 ELSI was established in Ookayama Campus.
March, 2013 Inauguration Ceremony; the First International Symposium was held.
March, 2014 The Second International Symposium “Origin & Evolution of the Earth-Life System” was held.
August, 2014 ELSI Summer School was held.
January, 2015 The Third International Symposium “Life in the Universe”, and Public Lecture “Life in the Universe” were held.
April, 2015 ELSI Origins Network (EON) was established by the grant from the John Templeton Foundation (till December 2017).
October, 2015 The new building (ELSI-1) was completed; Opening Ceremony.
January, 2016 The Fourth International Symposium “Early Earth, Venus, and Mars: Three Experiments in Biological Origins”, and Public Lecture “Does Water Define a Planet’s Habitability?” were held. The First Kavli-IPMU/ELSI Joint Public Lecture “Quest for Origins” was held.
January, 2017 The Fifth International Symposium “Expanding Views on the Emergence of the Biosphere”, and Public Lecture “We Don’t Know ‘How We Began’ – Quest of Astrobiology for Origin of Life –“ were held. The Second Kavli-IPMU/ELSI Joint Public Lecture “Quest for Origins” was held.
January, 2018 The Sixth International Symposium “Building Bridges from Earth to Life: From Chemical Mechanism to Ancient Biology”, and Public Lecture were held. The Third Kavli-IPMU/ELSI Joint Public Lecture “Quest for Origins” was held. EON-ELSI Winter School was held.
April, 2018 ELSI hosted Japan SciCom 2018.
January, 2019 The Seventh International Symposium “Comparative Emergence”, and Public Lecture “The Forefront of Solar System Exploration –Seeking New Encounters –“ were held. Opening Ceremony of “Mishima Hall.” The Fourth Kavli-IPMU/IRCN/ELSI Joint Public Lecture “Quest for Origins” was held.
May, 2019 ELSI hosted Japan SciCom 2019.
February, 2020 The Eighth International Symposium “Extending Views of Catalysis”, and Public Lecture “Extremophiles – Enchanted by Mystery of Life –“ were held. The Fifth Kavli-IPMU/IRCN/ELSI Joint Public Lecture “Quest for Origins” was held.
January, 2021 The Ninth International Symposium “Science in Society”, and Public Lecture “Science in the Wild” were held.
February, 2021 ELSI hosted the Ninth WPI Science Symposium, “‘Life’ in the 21st Century.” The Sixth Kavli-IPMU/IRCN/ELSI Joint Public Lecture “Quest for Origins” was held.
September, 2021 ELSI hosted Astrobiology Graduate Conference (AbGradCon) 2021.
January, 2022 The 10th International Symposium “ELSI Past & Future”, and Public Lecture “From Deep Earth to Deep Space” were held.
April, 2022 ELSI 2.0 started.
January, 2023 Public Lecture ‘Hayabusa2: Unlocking the Mysteries of Life’ was held.
March, 2023 The 11th International Symposium “The Living Universe” was held.
January, 2024 The 12th ELSI International Symposium in collaboration with CO world project ‘Emergence and Detection of Life’ was held.