316 ANALYST, APRIL 1993, VOL. 118 Guest Editorial Sensors and Signals The area of sensors is one of the most active in science today. It is a truly multidisciplinarian subject, which encompasses the traditional classifications of chemistry and biology, physics, electronics and mathematics. The main aim of the Analytical Division Symposium at The Royal Society of Chemistry Autumn Meeting held at Trinity College, Dublin, on Septem- ber 16-18, 1992, was therefore to reflect how these disciplines have come together to produce sensing devices and protocols which have a practical application in the areas of chemical and biological analysis. The symposium was given the title ‘Sensors and Signals’ owing to the growing importance of maximizing the information that can be obtained from sensors and, in particular, sensor arrays.This followed on from a small Irish national meeting held at Dublin City University in September 1990, the proceedings of which were subsequently published in Analytical Proceedings (1991, 28, 102). The Campunile, u local landmark and centrepiece of the main square at Trinity College, Dublin The first plenary lecture on recognition processes in chemical and biological sensors was to have been given by Professor Wilhelm Simon of ETH, Zurich, but owing to his recent illness he could not attend. It was, therefore, very sad to learn of his death on November 17,1992, and I am sure that everyone who attended the symposium will wish to record their appreciation of the great contribution Professor Simon made to the development of chemical and biological sensors, particularly in the area of ion-selective electrodes.The theme of recognition was therefore introduced by Professor Gordon Wallace, who dealt primarily with recognition of analytes at conducting polymer surfaces. The meeting then continued with a set of lectures relating to the various transduction processes used to transmit the signal to the measurement device. The third session was concerned with sensor arrays/ signal processing, where the use of various mathematical routines, such as neural networks and multivariate calibra- tion, were described to show how better information could be obtained from sensor signals, particularly from the often complex patterns obtained from sensor arrays. The following three sessions were then concerned with particular areas of sensor developments related to gas sensors, polymer-based sensors and biosensors.These sessions began with the Plenary Lecture of Professor JiEi Janata on the present state of fabrication of chemically sensitive field effect transistors. Five of the delegates at the Sensors and Signals Symposium, putting their own sensors to the test whilst in ‘Mulligans’, one of the more famous pubs in Dublin. L to R: Projessor Gordon Wullace, Dr. Vincent Cunnune, ProfesJor Malcolm Smyth, Dr. Richard Miller and Dr. Simon Higgins The quality of the work reported in both the oral and poster sessions was of a very high standard and it is hoped that this permanent record of the proceedings of the symposium will be welcomed by all those who witnessed the events and under- stood more about ‘the dancer and the dance’. As convenors of the symposium and Guest Editors of this special issue of The Analyst, we would like to thank all those who supported us at the meeting, and in particular Dr. Jeremy Glennon of University College Cork, who was involved in the early stages of the programme development. Malcolm R. Smyth Dermot D. Diamond Dublin City University