Experiments at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) and at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) study the properties of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) produced in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions. The QGP is an extreme state of matter comprising deconfined quarks and gluons (partons) that exists only at temperatures above approximately 160 MeV, a condition met for last time a few microseconds after the Big Bang, or at baryon densities five times higher than normal nuclear densities, speculated to exist inside the core of neutron stars.

Measurements of collective phenomena and heavy quarks have fundamentally changed our understanding of the QGP. There is overwhelming evidence that the QGP, while composed of deconfined partons, still remains a strongly coupled system. The QGP is also dense and hot enough to cause significant energy loss to the heavy charm and bottom quarks as well as dissociate even the strongest bound heavy quarkonium states.

With the LHC Run-2 nearing its completion and the second RHIC beam energy scan programme upcoming, this MIAPP programme will provide an excellent opportunity to bring together experts in the community to review the progress, discuss open questions and foster new collaborations.