Book excerpt: The sixth ERCOFTAC Workshop on ‘Direct and Large-Eddy Simulation’ (DLES-6) was held at the University of Poitiers from September 12-14, 2005. Following the tradition of previous workshops in the DLES-series, this edition has reflected the state-of-the-art of numerical simulation of transitional and turbulent flows and provided an active forum for discussion of recent developments in simulation techniques and understanding of flow physics.