The main objective of the Conference and Workshop is to gather together scientists and engineers to exchange information in the field of materials with 'unusual' mechanical and thermal properties, such as negative Poissons ratio ('auxetics'), negative local or directional compressibility, negative thermal expansion, negative stiffness inclusions, extreme hardness, etc. The elastic, viscoelastic, thermoelastic and magnetoleastic behaviour of solids and liquids bordering on solids fall within the remit of this meeting. Contributions in the areas of experiment, theory and computer simulation are welcomed. The exchange of information and ideas should lead to the formulation of new directions for research activities on such systems.

An important aspect of the Conference and Workshop is to teach and acquaint young scientists (students and Ph.D. students) with the theoretical, experimental and simulation methods used to explore the physics of these systems.

The following topics essential to the physics of auxetics, their models and other systems (materials and models) with unusual, e.g. "negative", characteristics are within the scope of the Conference and Workshop:

• properties and applications of auxetic materials,
• materials and models with negative thermal expansion,
• mechanisms leading to auxetic behaviour,
• experimental, theoretical and computer simulation studies of auxetic systems,
• multifunctional systems incorporating auxetic behaviour,
• mechanical metamaterials,
• experimental, theoretical and computer simulation studies of systems of special properties (like systems of negative thermal expansion, systems of negative - local or directional - compressibility, systems with inclusions of negative stiffness, composites of hierarchical structures, systems of extreme hardness, layers and films of unusual properties, etc.),
• systems under special external conditions (like negative pressure),
• theoretical and computer simulation methods for modelling auxetics and other systems with "negative" characteristics,
• liquids with anomalous viscoelastic properties,
• new methods (experimental, theoretical and/or computer simulations) to study materials of unusual properties.