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 2nd International Symposium “Origin & Evolution of the Earth-Life System” was held.
August, 2014 ELSI Summer School was held.
January, 2015 The 3rd 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 4th 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 5th 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 2nd Kavli-IPMU/ELSI Joint Public Lecture “Quest for Origins” was held.
January, 2018 The 6th International Symposium “Building Bridges from Earth to Life: From Chemical Mechanism to Ancient Biology”, and Public Lecture were held. The 3rd 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 7th International Symposium “Comparative Emergence”, and Public Lecture “The Forefront of Solar System Exploration –Seeking New Encounters –“ were held. Opening Ceremony of “Mishima Hall.”The 4th Kavli-IPMU/IRCN/ELSI Joint Public Lecture “Quest for Origins” was held.
May, 2019 ELSI hosted Japan SciCom 2019.
February, 2020 The 8th International Symposium “Extending Views of Catalysis”, and Public Lecture “Extremophiles – Enchanted by Mystery of Life –“ were held. The 5th Kavli-IPMU/IRCN/ELSI Joint Public Lecture “Quest for Origins” was held.
January, 2021 The 9th International Symposium “Science in Society” was held. Public Lecture “Science in the Wild” was held.
February, 2021 ELSI hosted the 9th WPI Science Symposium, “‘Life’ in the 21st Century.” The 6th 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” was held. Public Lecture “From Deep Earth to Deep Space” was held. The 7th Kavli-IPMU/IRCN/ELSI Joint Public Lecture “Quest for Origins” was held.
April, 2022 ELSI 2.0 started.
November, 2022 The 8th Kavli-IPMU/IRCN/ELSI Joint Public Lecture “Quest for Origins” was held.
January, 2023 Public Lecture ‘Hayabusa2: Unlocking the Mysteries of Life’ was held.
March, 2023 The 11th International Symposium “The Living Universe” was held.
November, 2023 The 9th Kavli-IPMU/IRCN/ELSI Joint Public Lecture “Quest for Origins” was held.
January, 2024 The 12th ELSI International Symposium in collaboration with CO world project ‘Emergence and Detection of Life’ was held.
February, 2024 Public Lecture ‘A Mission to Earth’ was held.
November, 2024 Public Lecture ‘Seismic Exploration of Planets’ was held.
January, 2025 The 13th ELSI International Symposium ‘Life and Humans in Space’ was held. The 10th Kavli-IPMU/IRCN/ELSI Joint Public Lecture “Quest for Origins” was held.
January, 2026 The 14th ELSI International Symposium ‘Individuality Across the Biosphere’ was held. Public Lecture ‘MMX: Unlocking the Martian Moons’ were held.
February, 2026 The 11th Kavli-IPMU/IRCN/ELSI Joint Public Lecture “Quest for Origins” was held.