The EFB Microbial Physiology Section welcomes you to the fourth Microbial Stress meeting, which will be hosted in the historic and cosy town of Kinsale, on the south coast of Ireland, not far from the city of Cork. With a strong interdisciplinary nature, this conference aims to gather scientists working in fundamental and applied research and interested in understanding how microorganisms cope with stress. The meeting explores how powerful new methodological and scientific approaches are being employed to tackle this biological question. The meeting will welcome microbiologists, biotechnologists, system biologists, biochemists and molecular biologist from both academia and industrial sectors in an informal environment. Sensing, cellular responses and adaptations to natural and non-natural stress conditions in microorganisms is thus the focus of this meeting, which, from basic to applied research, will provide a forum for scientists interested in the role of stress molecules and on their effects at the system level, with important implications in the medical and biotechnological fields.