It is with great pleasure that we welcome all delegates and accompanying persons to the 6th International Meeting of the Hellenic Society of Rheology, HSR 2011, in Athens, Greece. HSR meetings are rotated every 3 years among various locations around Greece and Cyprus. This is the 6th meeting since the foundation of the Society in 1996, when its 1st meeting was held in Nicosia, Cyprus. The 2nd meeting was held in 1998 in Herakleion, Crete, the 3rd meeting in 2001 in Patras, the 4th meeting in 2004 in Athens, and the 5th meeting in 2007 in Rhodes. Athens has been chosen for the present meeting, for its central location and ease of access to all participants.

The HSR 2011 Meeting was also a special meeting as it iwas combined with the 7th GRACM International Congress on Computational Mechanics (GRACM 2011). The HSR meeting started with sessions on experimental rheology and rheometry and continued with computational rheology, where many Greek rheologists contributed. The HSR Conference included 2 plenary, 55 oral lectures and 10 posters. The scientific papers were presented under 8 major themes. We hope that this Conference promoted and facilitated scientific exchange, collaboration and interactions between participants as well as their organisations in advancing science and technology based on rheology.

Athens is reputed as the “cradle of western civilisation” and boasts some of the most important ancient monuments in the world. We hope all international delegates will experience the important attractions that Athens has to offer during their stay in the city.

We thank the NCSR Demokritos for providing their conference room, and the NTUA, and in particular the School of Mining Engineering and Metallurgy, for their generous support.  We are indebted to the members of the Organising and Scientific Committees and other individuals for their commitment and hard work in order to make this Meeting a successful event.

Prof. Evan Mitsoulis

Conference Chair