The objective of this meeting was to bring together collea- gues from different branches of observational astronomy and theoretical astrophysics to discuss and analyse the rapid progress in our knowledge and understanding of the matter surrounding stars, streaming off stellar surfaces, or fall- ing onto stars. The meeting was sponsored by IAU Commis- sions 36 (Theory of Stellar Atmospheres), 29 (Stellar Spec- tra), and 34 (Interstellar Matter). There...