Dear Colleague,

The 17th International Conference on Strangeness in Quark Matter (SQM 2017) will be held in Utrecht, the Netherlands, from 10-15 July 2017. A graduate school on “The role of strangeness in heavy ion collisions” on 8-9 July 2017 will precede the conference. The conference venue is in the Science Park of Utrecht University.

The SQM 2017 conference will consist of invited plenary talks, contributed parallel talks and poster presentations.

Scientific Topics - Strangeness and heavy-quark production in nuclear collisions and hadronic interactions - Hadron resonances in the strongly-coupled QGP - Bulk matter phenomena associated with strange and heavy quarks - QCD phase structure - Strangeness in astrophysics - Open questions and new developments

Conference Website The conference website is available at http://www.sqm2017.nl. The registration is now open and will continue through 1 July 2017. The early registration including a reduced conference fee is open until 30 April 2017. Participants with special dietary requirements are kindly asked to indicate it in their registration.

Venue The conference will take place in the Koningsberger building, which is located in the Science Park of Utrecht University. The venue is connected by frequent bus services to Utrecht city centre.

Conference Fee The conference fee of 350€ (for participants who register and pay before 30 April 2017) and of 400€ (for those who register and pay after 30 April 2017) includes coffee breaks, lunches, the welcome reception, the excursion and the proceedings. All participants and accompanying persons are cordially invited to the conference dinner on Wednesday, 13 July 2017 (30€).

Accommodation Hotels and other accommodation possibilities in the city of Utrecht have been selected for this conference with instant availability and against special conditions. Details are given on the conference website. We advise you to book hotel rooms as early as possible.

Travel The nearest major international airport is Schiphol close to Amsterdam. We arranged a 10% discount for Air France & KLM flights for your booking. There is a direct train service from Schiphol airport to Utrecht Central Station every 30 minutes; travel time is about 30 minutes (free Wi-Fi on board). Utrecht is the centre of the Dutch railway network with regular international connections from neighbouring countries. For travel details please consult the conference website.

Visa Information The Netherlands is part of the Schengen area. You may need a Schengen visa to stay in the Netherlands for a period of maximum 90 days in any 180-days period (short stay visa). Do you want to pass through the Netherlands? You may need a transit visa. Please carefully check visa regulations at https://www.government.nl/topics. Letters of invitation for visa purposes will be available upon request for registered conference participants. Please contact the conference manager by email (sqm2017@nikhef.nlmailto:sqm2017@nikhef.nl). We strongly recommend that you start the visa application process as soon as possible.

Abstract Submission The website is now open for the submission of abstracts and will continue through 15 March 2017. Notification for the acceptance for oral talks will be made before 15 April 2017.

Students Support Financial support are available for a limited number of graduate students and young postdocs that will cover accommodation in shared double rooms for the school and conference period and a reduced conference fee. Details on the application process are given on the conference website. All students receiving financial support are required to attend the school and help with the conference service. The deadline for applications is 15 March 2017.

Proceedings The conference proceedings will be published in a special issue of European Physical Journal Web of Conferences.

Important Dates Graduate school dates: 8-9 July 2017 Conference dates: 10-15 July 2017 First announcement: December 2016 Second announcement: February 2017 Registration: 10 December 2016 - 1 July 2017 Early registration deadline (inclusive hotel booking): 30 April 2017 Student support application deadline: 15 March 2017 Notification for student support: 15 April 2017 Abstract submission deadline: 10 December 2016 - 15 March 2017 Notification for acceptance for oral talks before: 15 April 2017 Latest conference information: June 2017 Proceedings deadline: 1 November 2017

We look forward to welcoming you in Utrecht.

Local Organisation Committee Cristina Bedda (Utrecht University) Alessandro Grelli (Utrecht University) Paul Kuijer (Nikhef Amsterdam, co-chair) Marco van Leeuwen (Nikhef Amsterdam) André Mischke (Utrecht University, chair) Thomas Peitzmann (Utrecht University) Raimond Snellings (Utrecht University, co-chair) Barbara Trzeciak (Utrecht University)

Conference manager: Sylvia Walter Contact email: sqm2017@nikhef.nlmailto:sqm2017@nikhef.nl

International Advisory Committee Jörg Aichelin (University of Nantes, France) Yasuyuki Akiba (RIKEN-RBRC, Japan) Federico Antinori (INFN Padova, Italy) David Blaschke (University of Wroclaw, Poland) Marcus Bleicher (FIAS Frankfurt, Germany) Peter Braun-Munzinger (EMMI/GSI, Germany) Jean Cleymans (University of Cape Town, South Africa) Domenico Elia (INFN Bari, Italy) Marek Gaździcki (Kielce University, Poland and University of Frankfurt, Germany) Paolo Giubellino (INFN Torino, Italy and GSI Darmstadt, Germany) Boris Hippolyte (University of Strasbourg, France) Huan Zhong Huang (UCLA, USA) Christina Markert (University of Texas at Austin, USA) Bedangadas Mohanty (NISER, India) Berndt Müller (BNL and Duke University, USA) Grazyna Odyniec (LBNL, USA) Johann Rafelski (University of Arizona, USA) Alexander Sorin (JINR, Russia) George Stephans (MIT Cambridge, USA) Horst Stöcker (University of Frankfurt, Germany) Joachim Stroth (University of Frankfurt, Germany) Alexandre Suaide (University of São Paulo, Brazil) Orlando Villalobos Baillie (University of Birmingham, UK) Fuqiang Wang (Purdue University, USA) Nu Xu (LBNL, USA and CCNU, China) Zhangbu Xu (BNL, USA) Pengfei Zhuang (Tsinghua University, China)