Every third year since 1990 an International Dormouse Conference has been held. Scientists from different branches of biology meet to exchange results of new research. This is an event that most of the participants regard as a “dormouse family meeting” which gathers colleagues from many countries around the world. For a detailed review of the history of the International Dormouse Conferences see the Preface, by Pat Morris, in the Proceedings of the 8^th International Dormouse Conference, Peckiana vol. 8, 2012, 276pp.

The 10^th International Dormouse Conference was held from the 11^th to the 15^th of September 2017 at the University of Liège, Belgium. Why choose Belgium for an International Dormouse Conference? Belgium is actually one of the few European countries that is fortunate to host three species of the Gliridae: the hazel dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius), the edible dormouse (Glis glis) and the garden dormouse (Eliomys quercinus).

The 10^th International Dormouse Conference was attended by 98 participants from 17 countries. Fortythree oral presentations were given during three days of presentations. This conference was a success as it brought us new insights about monitoring of dormice in France and also new information about Roach's mouse-tailed dormouse (Myomimus roachi) a rare and little-known dormouse in Europe, finally found in Bulgaria. During the mid-conference excursion we had the opportunity to walk in hazel and garden dormouse habitat in the Voeren region. We also visited hazel dormice study sites monitored by the Natuurpunt, and lead by Goedele Verbeylen and Natuurpunt volunteers. All in all, this conference offered an incredible amount of new ideas and information about the world of dormice. The book of conference abstracts can be ordered as a PDF file by sending an e-mail to amouton@uliege.be. In addition to this special volume of a selection of conference papers, we are honored to include obituaries for four researchers who contributed so much to knowledge about dormice over the last 30 years: Rod Baxter, Peter Vogel, Gerhard Storch and Douglas Woods.

On behalf of the 10^th International Dormouse Conference Scientific Committee:

Pat Morris (United Kingdom), Rimvydas Juškaitis (Lithuania), Boris Kryštufek (Slovenia), Peter Adamik (Czech Republic), Sandro Bertolino (Italy), Joanna Fietz (Germany) I thank all the anonymous referees who made highly relevant and valuable contributions to this special volume.