The symposium brought together researchers in the areas of the mechanics of defects (cracks, dislocations, inclusions, precipitates, phase boundaries amongst others) and the material (configurational) mechanics in the sense of Eshelby, as a rational framework for the description of driving forces on evolving inhomogeneities and structural changes in continua. Important developments in Configurational Mechanics have been performed in the last years and the symposium aimed at promoting scientific  exchanges between researchers in the field.

Previously published in the International Journal of Fracture, Volume 202:2, 2016