You are welcome to join us in St. Petersburg, Russia July 7–11, 2008 for the Thirteenth International Colloquium on Dust Explosions and the Eighth Colloquium on Gas, Vapor, Liquid and Hybrid Explosions. These two colloquia jointly form the Seventh International Symposium on Hazards, Prevention, and Mitigation of Industrial Explosions (7th ISHPMIE).

The dust explosion colloquium was initially held in Poland: Baranow (1984), Jadwisin (1986), Szczyrk (1988), Porabka-Kozubnik (1990), and Pultusk (1993). Subsequent colloquia were held in Shenyang, China (1994), Bergen, Norway (1996), Schaumburg, USA (1998), Tsukuba, Japan (2000), Bourges, France (2002), Cracow, Poland (2004), Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada (2006).

The International Specialist Meeting on Fuel-Air Explosions was initiated in 1981 and held in Montreal, Canada. A second and similar meeting was held in Bergen in 1996 in conjunction with the Seventh International Colloquium on Dust Explosions. The two meetings in Bergen occurred under the name of the International Symposium on Hazards, Prevention, and Mitigation of Industrial Explosions (ISHPMIE). This tradition of joint colloquia under the ISHPMIE banner has continued through the symposia in Schaumburg, Tsukuba, Bourges, Cracow, Halifax, and now in St. Petersburg.

Saint-Petersburg is the Northern capital of Russia, its cultural, historical and architectural center! Saint-Petersburg was named in honor of patron saint of Peter The Great, who founded the city more than 300 years ago and for more than 200 years (till 1917) it was Russian capital. Peter the Great modeled the city after European capitals and it has been referred as Russia's "Window into Europe" for a long time.

St.Petersburg is divided into numerous islands by rivers and canals and is often called as the "Northern Venice". Saint-Petersburg together with its palaces, museums, theatres, distant suburbs and their parks is renowned piece of the world's cultural heritage.