2014 was declared by UNESCO an International Year of Crystallography and the International Union of Crystallography has prepared a particularly exciting program for its XXIII Congress and General Assembly, which will take place in Montreal Canada on August 5-12. The website of the 2014 Congress can be found here: http://www.iucr2014.org/welcome_e.shtml

Among the planned scientific sessions there are six microsymposia of particular interest to the high-pressure community.

MS-09  Aug 6, pm:
High-pressure crystallography of Periodic and Aperiodic Crystals.
Vasily Minkov (vasilyminkov@yahoo.com)
Clivia Hejny (clivia.hejny@gmail.com)
Topics: Polymorphism in molecular and inorganic solids, quasicrystals at high pressure, anisotropic compression mechanisms, incommensurate structures at high pressure, complex elemental structures, interatomic and intermolecular forces at high pressure, hydrogen bond transformations, Fermi surface nesting.

MS-27  Aug 7, pm;   
Advances in experimental techniques and data analysis for science at extreme conditions at synchrotron and neutron sources.
Stas Sinogeykin (ssinogeikin@ciw.edu)
Simon Redfern (satr@cam.ac.uk)
Topics: Time-resolved experiments, dynamic compression, novel X-ray spectroscopy methods for high pressure experiments, novel crystallographic methods for structure determination at high pressure, multigrain analysis at high pressure, software for high pressure crystallography, pulse-laser heating in diamond anvil cell, new designs of devices for generation of high pressure, new techniques for in situ high pressure neutron diffraction, recent trends in large volume press instrumentation for synchrotron experiments, ultra-high-pressure experiments.

MS-41  Aug, 8pm:
Electronic and Magnetic phenomena at extreme conditions.         
Karen Friese (k.friese@fz-juelich.de)  
Karel Prokes (prokes@helmholtz-berlin.de)
Topics: Spectroscopic methods for characterization of magnetic state of solids at high pressure, magnetic phase transitions, magnetic symmetry group relations and phase transition pathways, spin crossover, metal-insulator transitions, superconductivity, relaxor ferroelectric materials, Jahn-Teller effect at high pressure.

MS-49  Aug9, am:
High pressure solid state chemistry and materials synthesis.       
Vladimir Solozhenko (vladimir.solozhenko@univ-paris13.fr)
Haozhe Liu (haozhe@hit.edu.cn)
Topics: New hot high-pressure materials, nanopolycrystalline diamond and other superhard materials, hydrogen storage materials, noble gas compounds and other exotic compounds from high pressure synthesis, high pressure nitride synthesis, carbon dioxide sequestration at high pressure, superconductors, exotic forms of elements, high energy density materials.

MS-80  Aug 10, pm:
Biomolecular systems under pressure - in memory of Roger Fourme.      
Nick Brooks (nicholas.brooks@imperial.ac.uk)
Thierry Prange (thierry.prange@univ-paris5.fr)
Topics: Experimental approaches to macromolecular crystallogphy at high pressure, multi-technique approaches, pressure-induced polymorphism of macromolecules, pressure effects on enzyme activity, high-pressure behavior of aminoacids, biomimetics.

MS-88  Aug 11, am:
Liquids, amorphous and nanocrystalline solids at extreme conditions.    
Yoshinori Katayama (katayama@spring8.or.jp)          
Dennis Klug (Dennis.Klug@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca)
Topics: determination of structure of glasses and liquids from total scattering experiments, reverse Monte Carlo modeling, quantitative in situ density determination for glasses and liquids at high pressure, effects of grain size on physical properties and phase diagrams, ultrasonic in situ measurements on glasses and liquids at high PT, pressure-induced amorphisation, memory glasses, core-shell nanomaterials at extreme conditions.