The notion of transversity in hadronic physics has been with us for over 25 years. Intriguing though it might have been, for much of that time transversity remained an intangible and remote object, of interest principally to a few theoreticians. In recent years transversity and transverse-spin effects in general have grown as both theoretical and experimental areas of active research. This increasing attention has now matured into a thriving field with a driving force of its own. The ever-growing bulk of data on asymmetries in collisions involving transversely polarised hadrons demands a more solid and coherent theoretical basis for its description. Indeed, it now appears rather clear that transversity and other closely related properties play a significant role in such phenomena.As part of a Ministry-funded inter-university Research Project, this workshop was organised to gather together experimentalists and theoreticians engaged in investigating the nature of transverse spin in hadronic physics, with the intent of favouring the exchange of up-to-date theoretical and experimental ideas and news on the subject. Over 70 physicists took part and very nearly all the major experiments involved in transverse-spin studies were officially represented, as too were the main theory groups working in the field. New results and new analyses sparked many interesting and lively discussions.

Transversity 2008, the second workshop on “Transverse polarization phenomena in hard processes” follows the first one held in Como after three years. As in that case, the event comes at the end of a two-years project financed by the Italian Ministry of Education.In the time between the two Workshops, decisive steps towards the revealing of the transverse spin structure of the proton were taken on both the theoretical and experimental sides.The milestone of the first extraction of Transversity and the Sivers function for the u- and d-quarks deserves a special mention. In the same period, historic experiments that in the last decade contributed to the first pioneering measurements in the SIDIS sector, have concluded their data taking, and their place is being taken by upgrades of existing or new facilities. These are the result of the new interesting phenomena which are appearing and call for additional experimental information and novel experimental techniques.Over 80 physicists took part in the Workshop. Equally involved were experimentalists and theoreticians engaged in investigating the nature of transverse spin. The heterogeneous public favoured vivid discussions and fruitful exchange of up-to-date theoretical and experimental ideas on this constantly evolving subject.

Getting down to the bottom line is what this proceedings digest is all about, as any physicist will tell you: spin is the fundamental concept in physics. The applications are pretty universal due to the fact that, using spin-related phenomena, physicists are trying to reveal the fundamental principles of nature – and things don’t come much more bottom-line than that. This volume is the proceedings of the 17th International Spin Physics Symposium which is a forum to discuss spin physics and related topics.

The topics covered in the conference ranged from the physics that can be done with polarized beams of particles (protons, electrons, gamma-rays, etc.) to the techniques and instrumentation necessary to achieve this. Topics included: nucleon structure measurements (from where does the spin of the proton and neutron come), the acceleration, storage and polarization of particle beams and the polarized targets and sources necessary for mounting the experiments.

The aim of the Conference was to discuss recent results and perspectives on the theoretical and experimental investigation of the structure of free hadrons and hadrons in the nuclear medium, as well as the structure of hadronic matter both at normal and extreme conditions. The Volume is a useful update of the subject for theorists and experimentalists working in medium and high energy nuclear physics.

The main purpose of the workshop was to review both experimental and theoretical aspects of the field of Diffraction in High Energy Particle Physics. The topics covered include diffraction in electron-nucleon collisions, forward physics in Hadron-hadron collisions, new results in polarization and spin physics, diffraction in heavy ion collisions, etc. New developments to identify significant progress and prospects for the Large Hadron Collider were largely discussed.

The International Workshop “Polarized Antiproton Beams - How?” was organized to study the theoretical and experimental aspects of the currently accepted methods of producing high intensity polarized antiproton beams in storage rings. The main question discussed was if such beams can be produced, will they provide a powerful new tool for studying the spin structure of both nucleons and nuclei?