Plant Biomechanics and Mechanobiology is an expanding interdisciplinary field, at the interfaces of biology, mechanics, physics and engineering. Over the years, the Plant Biomechanics International Conference has become the central event of this community, as well as a unique place for interdisciplinary exchanges around the amazing features that Plants have evolved to sense, acclimate and adapt to the mechanical challenges they have been submitted to. 8th PBM follows a series of conferences organized every third year since 1994 when the first of these conferences took place in Montpellier, France. Since then, conferences in Reading, UK (1997), Freiburg- Badenweiler, DE (2000), East Lansing, MI, US (2003), Stockholm, SE(2006), Cayenne, French Guyana (2009), Clermont-Ferrand, FR (2012) were organized. We hope that this forthcoming conference in Nagoya will be able to bring you a similar stimulating experience as the ones in the past.