Cosmic dust is omnipresent, yet kaleidoscopic. As a result, the universe contains various types of cosmic dust and the field of cosmic dust research is manifold. Accordingly, an interdisciplinary research program such as this series of Cosmic Dust meetings is essential in achieving great scientific advances in every discipline of the field. This meeting series aims at establishing a consensus among cosmic-dust experts (cosmodustians†). The primary objective of the meeting is to provide cosmodustians with a unique opportunity to develop long-term interpersonal relationships and possible collaborations among meeting attendees through scientific interactions.

The meeting is open for every cosmodustian, though the size is limited to a maximum of 50. The subject of discussion includes all kinds of cosmic dust: intergalactic dust, interstellar dust, protoplanetary disk dust, debris disk dust, cometary dust, interplanetary dust, circumplanetary dust, stellar nebular condensates, presolar grains, micrometeorites, meteoroids, meteors, regolith particles, and planetary aerosols. Also welcome are dust-related topics, for example, grain surface chemistry of molecules; physicochemical properties of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs); light scattering by non-spherical particles and particulate surfaces; dusty plasmas.

The Cosmic Dust meeting started in 2006 as a session called “Cosmic Dust” of the 3rd AOGS (Asia-Oceania Geosciences Society) annual meeting in Singapore at the request of the then AOGS president, Wing-Huen Ip (National Central University, Taiwan). Dust freaks have kept on organizing the session at subsequent AOGS meetings in Korea (2008), India (2010), and Taiwan (2011). The Cosmic Dust series had been recognized as the most successful session of the AOGS Planetary Sciences Section at all times. In 2012, the time was ripe to be free from organizing restrictions of the AOGS meeting. From that time on, the Cosmic Dust meeting took place independently of any organizations and incorporated the idea of Elmar K. Jessberger (University of Münster, Germany) who claimed how important interdisciplinarity is for anyone interested in cosmic dust research. This series of Cosmic Dust meetings has been held in a relaxed and joyful atmosphere. So will be the coming one!

†The neologism “cosmodustians” was originally used by Greg C. Sloan (Cornell University, USA) to address the organizers of the Cosmic Dust meeting.