This first volume of the two-volume book contains selected papers from the international conference 'Groups St Andrews 2001 in Oxford' which was held at the University of Oxford in August 2001. Five main lecture courses were given at the conference, and articles based on their lectures form a substantial part of the Proceedings. This volume contains the contributions from Marston Conder (Auckland), Persi Diaconis (Stanford) and Marcus Du Sautoy (Cambridge)...