The Himalaya-Karakoram-Tibet (HKT) workshops were initiated at Leicester University in 1985 as a forum for all active workers in the region. The numbers of active researchers have grown year by year and this, the 15th HKT, had a record number of delegates, over 300, from many different countries. The 15th Himalaya-Karakoram-Tibet international Conference was held at the Tibet Hotel, Chengdu in Sichuan Province, China over 21-24 April 2000. Two field excursions were held, a pre-conference trip across the Longmen Shan mountains to the Songpan-Ganze fold belt alongthe eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, and a post-conference trip from Lhasa to Kathmandu along the Friendship Highway. During the three days of conference over 100 talks and posters were presented, interspersed with several periods of animated discussions. The following is a brief subjective report on a few of the main topics of active research and debate. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
