The Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Society (AMMS), the International Union of Microbeam Analysis Societies (IUMAS), and the Australian Microbeam Analysis Society (AMAS) invite researchers and microscopists from Australia and the World to the jointly sponsored ACMM-20 and IUMAS-IV Conference in Perth, Western Australia, Australia. The Conference is from the 10th to the 15th February, 2008. There will be pre- and post- Conference Workshops and satellite meetings. The Conference will take place in the newly-completed Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The combination of the Australian ACMM-20 and the international IUMAS-IV has resulted, as hoped, in a very exciting event. The pooled resources have enabled the successful invitation of many internationally-leading microscopy and microanalysis experts to the Conference, allowing for an expanded and scientifically-rich program.

The Organising Committee has arranged four and a half days of plenary sessions and symposia in four nominal areas: "Biological Sciences", "Physical Sciences", "Technology, Instrumentation and Industry Application", and "Microanalysis". Invited tutorials will supplement the core program topics. The success of these are, we stress, dependent on your contributed papers. The Organising Committee has worked hard to develop a comprehensive and flexible program that will ensure your paper will be presented in an appropriate forum - please support them!

As per our ACMM tradition, an exciting and diverse range of workshops and short courses have been developed for the days preceding the Conference. They will allow you to learn or enhance your skills as microscopists and gain groundings in new techniques and applications. These opportunities are unique as many involve overseas experts who rarely converge at a single point in space and time - seize the chance!

ACMM-20 and IUMAS-IV will also host Australasia's largest commercial Exhibition of microscopy and microanalysis equipment and accessories thanks to the strong support of our industry colleagues. The Exhibition represents a rare concentration of high-level instrumentation expertise as it is attended by the industry developers - come and take advantage!

We look forward to welcoming you in person.

We have been privileged to organise ACMM20 and IUMAS-IV on your behalf. Microscopy and microanalysis are sciences that progress rapidly through innovative applications and technological advances by very smart people. We are proud that many of these people, from industry, academia, and the manufacturers, have accepted our invitation to Perth.

Several innovations have been introduced for this Conference, based on our good experiences at other events. We invited many of our community, both leading lights and early career, to co-chair the sessions we felt we wanted to base the program on. In these selections we were guided by a strong International Scientific Advisory Committee, as listed elsewhere. These Chairs have, and are as you read, working hard to develop their sessions into a comprehensive and cutting edge experience. We hope for a flood of your contributed papers to complement these efforts. We stress that our nominated topics are not exclusive.

"Talking posters" is another innovation for this Conference. All poster presenters, apart from being the social hub through the week, will have a 3 min opportunity in the lecture halls to convince us to pay them a visit. These 'preview' sessions will enhance the benefit we all get from the posters, as occurred at the 2005 Florence IUMAS-III.

Many organisations have provided generous sponsorship and these are gratefully acknowledged. We have an exceptionally high level of student and junior staff bursaries for both travel and registration as a result of these contributions. Please encourage your students to attend. Our invited tutorials will benefit particularly our students. The Exhibition has also been strongly supported and we both appreciate and look forward to enjoying this aspect.

Come and help us make this more memorable than our previous effort - we think it will be!