Many of the attendees of last year’s ISGG2016 conference found it to be deeply meaningful. At this conference, they shared recent developments in the field of geodesy and geodynamics around the conference theme. In order to further enhance the application of geodesy within geoscience, another conference, the International Symposium on Geodesy and Geodynamics—Tectonics, earthquake and Geohazards (ISGG 2018), is slated to be held at Kunming, China, from July 30 to August 2, 2018. As the chairman of the conference, it is my honor to invite friends old and new to this new conference. We will meet together in Kunming to share our research and discuss the applications of geodesy in geoscience, geohazards, and other fields and to discuss the future direction of geodynamics.

Kunming is one of the largest cities in southwestern China. This City is the political, economic, communications, and cultural center of the Yunnan Province as well as the seat of the provincial government. Kunming is also called the Spring City due to its weather and, because of the diversity of its plants, the Flower City. Kunming has been designated a special tourism center and its scenery includes a large number of high peaks (ca. 2000 m above sea level). The city has a number of well-appointed modern hotels and offers splendid cultural sites, beautiful parks, and delicious cuisine. Kunming is one of the most popular tourist attractions in China.

Due to the uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, western Yunnan Province is subject to strong crustal deformation, fault structure growth, and frequent earthquakes. These earthquakes are intense and have caused a great deal of damage. For this reason, western Yunnan became home to one of the first seismic observation sites in China. In order to monitor abnormal changes in earthquake activity, many types of highly advanced monitoring equipment have been implemented in the network area. At present, many institutions in China conduct regular or yearly observations here. They have accumulated a wealth of observation data. Some international institutions also maintain a presence in Kunming to cooperate with scientific research institutions in China and conduct geodynamic research. They have achieved many important results.

The focus of the conference is to share the latest applications of geodetic survey technology and geophysical detection technologies in earthquakes, geodynamics, and research into geohazards, to discuss the possibility of earthquake prediction, and the direction of development and strategies for earthquake prediction and disaster prevention.

At ISGG 2018, we plan to provide more opportunities for technical discussion and sharing within the field. We believe that you will find highly important information and necessary research in this symposium. This is also an opportunity to make your research known to other scientists. We warmly welcome all our friends to participate in our conference. Please mark July 30 to August 2, 2018 on your calendars.

We look forward to making your trip to Kunming in 2018 a great success!