The GIREP conference is the main international event in the field of Physics Education. Conferences are held every two years bringing together participants from all over the world, ready to share their experiences and research work in an interesting and rewarding domain.

This year, the Learning in Science Group, University of Cyprus is proud to host the GIREP-MPTL joint meeting, and we will do our best to make it both fruitful and enjoyable. The theme of the conference Physics Curriculum Design, Development and Validation, highlights an aspect of great relevance to recent innovation efforts in Physics Education: research-based curriculum design as a mechanism for unifying different approaches to enhance our knowledge of learning processes and explore the role of context, designed or circumstantial, in physics learning and instruction. Obviously, highlighting these topics does not mean underestimating or neglecting other important aspects of physics education research and practice. GIREP 2008, will be a great opportunity not only to present the results of your work, but also to communicate and discuss research topics of common interest with other colleagues.