More than 5000 Exoplanets have been detected, with another 5000+ candidates awaiting confirmation. Thanks to the wealth of data that is already available and to be expected from JWST and coming missions like PLATO and ARIEL, we might be close to find life beyond our solar system.

Here, we bring you face-to-face with Prof. João Duarte from the University of Lisbon, who is one of the conveners of the ISSI workshop 'The Geoscience of Exoplanets: Going Beyond Habitability'. The workshop covers a wide range of topics and brings together exoplanet observers and modellers, astrophysicists, planetary scientists, astrobiologists, and Earth scientist to learn about Earth-sized rocky planets in general and discuss the chances of finding extraterrestrial life and strategies of how to best detect it.

Listen to João as he talks about the workshop's progress, the main challenges of their multi-disciplinary project, and how the more detailed views on Exoplanets makes him optimistic about finding other plate tectonic worlds, and possibly life.