Registration is now open for the conference “Shedding Light on the Dark Universe with Extremely Large Telescopes”, to be held in Lanzhou China, 30 August–2 September 2017. This will be the first installment of a three-part conference series aimed at gathering input from the dark matter and dark energy theory, phenomenology, and observational communities to optimize the operations and instrumentation at future extremely large 30-m class optical infrared telescopes. Specifically, the meeting aims to address the following questions:

• What are the most promising observations that will be enabled by giant telescopes? What capabilities are required?

• What are they key synergies between giant telescopes and other facilities? In what areas and topics will a concerted effort yield far superior results than the sum of all parts?

• What theoretical work is needed in preparation for first light? What are the limitations in our understanding that need to be overcome? What calculations are required in order to make testable predictions and interpret the results of future astronomical observations?

Subsequent meetings of the series will be at the University of California Los Angeles, on 2–6 April, 2018, and in Europe in summer 2018 (dates and venue are being finalized).

The meeting in Lanzhou will have no registration fee. Lanzhou can easily be reached with direct flights from Beijing, Hong Kong, and many other international destinations. There will be an optional excursion to the Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Region (for a fee that can be paid upon arrival). It includes the Labrang Temple (perhaps the second biggest Tibetan monastery in the world, with over 1000 monks and 100 reincarnated Buddhas) and the Sangke grasslands, which should be covered in Edelweiss and yaks.