As Chairman of the Organizing Committee, I am delighted to invite mycologists worldwide to the XVII Congress of European Mycologists (XVII CEM), which will be held on the island of Madeira (Portugal), the exact venue being the conference centre of the Vidamar Hotel, located in the island's capital, the city of Funchal. We have chosen "Working with fungi" as the Congress theme to emphasize its broad outlook. This event is for all people who work with fungi, not just mycologists.

Fungi are remarkable. They belong in their own huge and incredibly diverse biological kingdom, completely separate from animals, plants and microorganisms: plants produce and animals consume, but fungi recycle. Without fungi, life as we know it would not be possible on this planet. It follows that fungi, individually and collectively, are of immense economic importance, and the aim of our Congress Programme, which is in preparation, is to celebrate these wonderful organisms by reviewing their role in culture, science and society. Themes being considered include: barcoding; biogeography; biological control; bioprospecting; bioremediation; conservation; cultivation of edible and medicinal fungi; databases and recording; ecology; endobionts; ethnomycology; evolution; forensic mycology; fungi and education; fungi and invertebrates; genomics; invasive fungi; lichen-forming fungi; mycorrhizae; mycotoxins; plant pathology; systematics.

This Congress, organized under the auspices of the European Mycological Association (EMA), is the latest in an unbroken series going back almost sixty years – longer than any other international Congress in mycology. It builds on a distinguished record of promoting progress in mycology and understanding of the diversity and biology of fungi. Earlier Congresses in this series have been in many different parts of Europe, but this will be the first in Portugal, and the first on an Atlantic island beyond the main continental shelf, rich in endemics, of great scientific interest, and further west and south than any before.

The Organizing Committee plans to deliver an exciting Congress, with cutting edge themes, and a stimulating interchange of ideas, all in a delightful venue. They join us in this invitation, and we all look forward to welcoming you to Madeira in September 2015.