"One of the most profound open issues in particle physics is to understand the pattern of fermion masses and mixings, and the source of fermion replication. CP violation is a crucial ingredient in understanding the surprising fact that the universe contains more matter than anti-matter. Consequently, its origin is intimately related and has deep implications for cosmology. A large-scale experimental effort has begun to illuminate these questions and new facilities will soon be collecting data. Interpreting these experimental results in terms of the fundamental dynamics is often far from straightforward, because measured quantities are clouded in hadronic contributions.

This is an area where close collaboration between theory and experiment is essential. Such collaboration is the aim of the network, which brings together existing European expertise in those theoretical areas which are relevant for the analysis of data. A multidisciplinary approach, combining lattice technologies, dispersive methods, effective eld theories (ChPT, HQET, NRQCD, SCET), higher order perturbative tools and Monte Carlo event generators, should allow more effective interaction with experimental data to improve our current understanding of  avour dynamics, and possibly guide us towards a more fundamental theory, valid at higher energy scales."

EuroFlavour08 is a conference organised within the FLAVIAnet network to discuss these issues among theorists and experimentalists.  This is a Marie Curie Research Training Network supported by the European Community's Sixth Framework Programme.