INTRODUCTION

In mid-July, 2014, The International Morphological Centre hosted the 17^th ISP conference which was held in St. Petersburg, in the Courtyard Marriott hotel conference hall.

More than 80 participants from 21 countries arrived in the Northern capital of Russia (an informal name of the city on the banks of the river Neva) to make presentations and present visual displays (posters and wall charts) of their research results.

The conference organizers offered  an extended social program including visits to the Hermitage, housing famous treasures of art, the Kunstkamera – a cabinet of curiosities – which was the first Russian museum of anatomy, Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo (King’s village) with its amazing Amber Room, where the guests could also enjoy a walk in the Peterhof  Palace park and admire its magnificent fountains.

The 17^th conference combined interesting presentations and discussions with a friendly atmosphere and traditional Russian hospitality. Sunny weather and unforgettable “white nights” will also remain in the guests’ memory. When they were saying good-bye to St. Petersburg they could throw a coin into the Neva’s running waters – it is an old Russian tradition meaning that a person is sure to come back to the place again.