The European Network of Excellence in Asteroseismology was created on 11 October 2002 during a kick-off meeting held in Leuven (Belgium). Belgian asteroseismologists have taken the initiative to create such a European network in analogy to the Belgian Asteroseismology Group, a small well-working network on Belgian scale (http://www.asteroseismology.be).

The purpose of ENEAS is to provide an efficient coordination between the numerous European initiatives in asteroseismology and to achieve an effective integration of all European expertise in this research domain through numerous exchanges of the ENEAS scientists. Another prime goal of ENEAS is to prepare European scientists for the huge databases of seismic data of stars that will be delivered by space missions, such as CoRoT which was successfully launched on 27 December 2006.

Following elections, the ENEAS network was led by a coordinator and three co-coordinators. This management team was installed originally for two years (period 2003 - 2004) and consisted of

Coordinator: Conny Aerts (Belgium)

Co-coordinators:

• Annie Baglin (France)
• Joergen Christensen-Dalsgaard (Denmark)
• Don Kurtz (UK)

Besides these coordinators, two scientists were found prepared to define, implement and maintain the ENEAS web portal. These are

Web Master: Enrique Solano (Spain)

Data Base Manager: Petr Skoda (Czech Republic)

During its first year of existence, some 250 scientists from 45 institutes have joined ENEAS. In each of these institutes one contact person was appointed. This person is responsible for a good interface between the ENEAS management team and each of the participating institutes. Modern state-of-the-art lecture notes on asteroseismology have been made available from the ENEAS web site to the community in 2003 and 2004, besides powerpoint presentations for general outreach. Subsequently, an ENEAS database containing modern reduced high-resolution spectroscopy and multicolour photometry of different types of variable stars has been made available in the course of 2004.

After several failed attempts to obtain EU funding for ENEAS (applications and evaluations available on the web site) the decision was made to join a European team of helioseismologists and to make one global application for funding in helio- and asteroseismology to the EU in 2005. This got approved as a Coordination Action in Helio- and Asteroseismology (HELAS) under the coordinatorship of helioseismologist Oskar von der Luhe, Freiburg, Germany, and is operational from 1/4/2006 until 31/3/2010. As such, ENEAS is encapsulated within the HELAS package N5: Asteroseismology. The purpose of HELAS NA5 is to provide useful tool packages for frequency analysis, mode identification and seismic model comparison, as well as a state-of-the-art database of time series of pulsating stars suitable for asteroseismic modelling. The goal is also to stimulate and help organise multisite campaigns for dedicated targets in asteroseismology. The ENEAS web portal remains operational as a convenient communication channel for meeting announcements, job opportunities, etc.

It will be decided how to continue the ENEAS activities, and their relation with the HELAS ones, after the end of the HELAS project, in March 2010.