Ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, welcome to Kemer to the NATO Advanced Study Institute Structure and Dynamics of Elementary Matter. We have chosen Kemer as the place of our NASI because it is located in a be- tiful and hospitable surrounding. This part of the Mediterranean at the Turkish Riviera is a historic region where many cultures meet (e.g., the Oriental and the Greek and Roman European cultures) and where you ?nd numerous places which played a role in ancient science and in early Christianity. Moreover, with the hotel Ceylan Inter-Continental we have found a most excellent me- ing place, directly located at the beach, equipped with wonderful swimming pools and restaurants – an absolutely ?rst-class location. Our NASIwill deal withthemost recent developmentsin high-energyheavy ionphysicsandinthesearchforsuperheavynuclei–tworatherdistinctareasof research. Indeed, we want to bring two very active communities of nuclear and high-energy physics into close contact. The meeting is both a school and has also the character of a conference: A school because there are many advanced students, many of which are themselves already top researchers and who are contributing with their own research in seminars and posters. It is also a c- ference because new results in the exciting and wonderful ?elds of low- and high-energy heavy ion physics will be presented. We are mainly focussing on the topics of superheavy elements and of hot and dense nuclear matter.
