With ERIS we aim to reconstruct the evolution of galaxies like the Milky Way using the phylogenetic trees, which are already extensively used in other evolutionary studies for biology. Since trees are mathematical structures and graphs, with ERIS we are consolidating an interdisciplinary collaboration between astronomers, biologists and mathematicians, in order to achieve our goal. We focus on reconstructing the evolution of the Milky Way, because this is the best laboratory but we aim at moving to extragalactic astronomy, by building and interpreting phylogenetic trees that are appropriate for astronomical data. To do so, we simulate the evolution of galaxies, where we know their shared history. We also use observed data, which allow us to learn to explore the Milky Way, and ultimately help us to constrain the theory of galaxy evolution.