Book excerpt: This unique book is the Proceedings of the 8th International Symposium on the Characterisation of Porous Solids, known also as "COPS VIII". The conference is one of a series, held every three years, which covers developments in methods for the characterisation of porous materials, and applications of those methods. The scope of the conference: COPS VIII is concerned with fundamental and applied research on the characterisation of the structure of porous materials, and the relationship between structure and material performance. The scope includes experimental characterisation methods such as X-Ray diffraction, NMR, adsorption, mercury intrusion, and calorimetry; theoretical and simulation methods used to interpret experimental data, such as molecular simulation, classical and statistical mechanical theory, and pore network modelling; and applied research on the impact of measured material properties on performance in applications.