We live in a universe filled with galaxies with an amazing variety of sizes and shapes. One of the biggest challenges for astronomers working in this field is to understand how all these types relate to each other in the background of an expanding universe. Modern astronomical surveys (like the Sloan Digital Sky Survey) have revolutionised this field of astronomy, by providing vast numbers of galaxies to study. The sheer size of the these databases made traditional visual classification of the types galaxies impossible and in 2007 inspired the Galaxy Zoo project (www.galaxyzoo.org); starting the largest ever scientific collaboration by asking members of the public to help classify galaxies by type and shape. Galaxy Zoo has since shown itself, in a series of now more than 30 scientific papers, to be a fantastic database for the study of galaxy evolution. In this Invited Discourse I spoke a little about the historical background of our understanding of what galaxies are, of galaxy classification, about our modern view of galaxies in the era of large surveys. I finish with showcasing some of the contributions galaxy classifications from the Galaxy Zoo project are making to our understanding of galaxy evolution.

Type Ia supernovae remain one of Astronomy's most precise tools for measuring distances in the Universe. I describe the cosmological application of these stellar explosions, and chronicle how they were used to discover an accelerating Universe in 1998 - an observation which is most simply explained if more than 70% of the Universe is made up of some previously undetected form of ‘Dark Energy’. Over the intervening 13 years, a variety of experiments have been completed, and even more proposed to better constrain the source of the acceleration. I review the range of experiments, describing the current state of our understanding of the observed acceleration, and speculate about future progress in understanding Dark Energy.

Through out the ancient history, Chinese astronomers had made tremendous achievements. Since the main purpose of the ancient Chinese astronomy was to study the correlation between man and the universe, all the Emperors made ancient Chinese astronomy the highly regarded science throughout the history. After a brief introduction of the achievement of ancient Chinese astronomy, I describe the beginnings of modern astronomy research in China in the 20th century. Benefiting from the fast development of Chinese economy, the research in astronomy in China has made remarkable progress in recent years. The number of astronomers has doubled in the past ten years, and the number of graduate students has grown over 1300. The current budget for astronomy research is ten times larger than that ten years ago. The research covers all fields in astronomy, from galaxies to the Sun. The recent progress in both the instruments, such as the Guo Shoujing's telescope, a Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST), and the theoretical research will be briefly presented. The ongoing and future projects on the space- and ground-based facilities will be described, including the Five Hundred Meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST), “Chang E” (Lunar mission) project, Hard X-ray Modulate Telescope (HXMT), DArk Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE), Deep Space Solar Observatory (DSO), Chinese Antarctic Observatory (CAO), 65m steerable radio telescope, Chinese Spectral Radioheliogaph (CSRH) etc.

Recent studies of the nearest star-forming clouds of the Galaxy at submillimeter wavelengths with the Herschel Space Observatory have provided us with unprecedented images of the initial conditions and early phases of the star formation process. The Herschel images reveal an intricate network of filamentary structure in every interstellar cloud. These filaments all exhibit remarkably similar widths - about a tenth of a parsec - but only the densest ones contain prestellar cores, the seeds of future stars. The Herschel results favor a scenario in which interstellar filaments and prestellar cores represent two key steps in the star formation process: first turbulence stirs up the gas, giving rise to a universal web-like structure in the interstellar medium, then gravity takes over and controls the further fragmentation of filaments into prestellar cores and ultimately protostars. This scenario provides new insight into the inefficiency of star formation, the origin of stellar masses, and the global rate of star formation in galaxies. Despite an apparent complexity, global star formation may be governed by relatively simple universal laws from filament to galactic scales.

Recent studies have claimed the existence of very massive stars (VMS) up to 300 M⊙ in the local Universe. As this finding may represent a paradigm shift for the canonical stellar upper-mass limit of 150 M⊙, it is timely to discuss the status of the data, as well as the far-reaching implications of such objects. We held a Joint Discussion at the General Assembly in Beijing to discuss (i) the determination of the current masses of the most massive stars, (ii) the formation of VMS, (iii) their mass loss, and (iv) their evolution and final fate. The prime aim was to reach broad consensus between observers and theorists on how to identify and quantify the dominant physical processes.

We summarise the motivations and main results of the joint discussion “3D Views of the Cycling Sun in Stellar Context”, and give credit to contributed talks and poster presentations, as due to the limited number of pages, this proceedings could only include contributions from the keynote speakers.

The almost stately evolution of the global heliospheric magnetic field pattern during most of the solar cycle belies the intense dynamic interplay of photospheric and coronal flux concentrations on scales both large and small. The statistical characteristics of emerging bipoles and active regions lead to development of systematic magnetic patterns. Diffusion and flows impel features to interact constructively and destructively, and on longer time scales they may help drive the creation of new flux. Peculiar properties of the components in each solar cycle determine the specific details and provide additional clues about their sources. The interactions of complex developing features with the existing global magnetic environment drive impulsive events on all scales. Predominantly new-polarity surges originating in active regions at low latitudes can reach the poles in a year or two. Coronal holes and polar caps composed of short-lived, small-scale magnetic elements can persist for months and years. Advanced models coupled with comprehensive measurements of the visible solar surface, as well as the interior, corona, and heliosphere promise to revolutionize our understanding of the hierarchy we call the solar magnetic field.

Stellar magnetic fields can reliably be characterized by several magnetic activity indicators, such as X-ray or radio luminosity. Physical processes leading to such emission provide important information on dynamic processes in stellar atmospheres and magnetic structuring.

We briefly review our current understanding of how the solar differential rotation and meridional circulation are maintained, which has important implications for understanding cyclic magnetic activity in the Sun and stars.

The interplay between stellar rotation and turbulent flows is a major ingredient for vertical angular momentum transport in stellar convection zone. Combined with the centrifugal force and the buoyancy force due to pole-equator temperature gradients one can expect a large-scale flow structure that is usually referred to as differential rotation and meridional flows. I review such observations for stars other than the Sun, mostly for stars significantly more active, and ask the question whether such observations can constrain the dynamo process.

The observationally determined properties of solar flares such as overall energy budget and distribution in space, time and energy of flare radiation, have improved enormously over the last cycle. This has enabled precision diagnostics of flare plasmas and nonthermal particles in large and small events, informing and driving new theoretical models. The theoretical challenges in understanding flare are considerable, involving MHD and kinetic processes operating in an environment far from equilibrium. New observations have also provided some challenges to long-standing models of flare energy release and transport. This talk overviewed recent observational and theoretical developments, and highlighted some important questions for the future

Flares are observed on a wide variety of stellar types, ranging from closely orbiting binary systems consisting of an evolved member (RS CVn's) and young, nearby super-active M dwarfs (dMe's). The timescales and energies of flares span many orders of magnitude and typically far exceed the scales of even the largest solar flares observed. In particular, the active M dwarfs produce an energetic signature in the near-UV and optical continuum, which is often referred to as the white-light continuum. White-light emission has been studied in Johnson UBVR filters during a few large-amplitude flares, and the best emission mechanism that fits the broadband color distribution is a T~104 K blackbody (Hawley & Fisher 1992). Time-resolved blue spectra have revealed a consistent picture, with little or no Balmer jump and a smoothly rising continuum toward the near-UV (Hawley & Pettersen 1991). However, the most recent self-consistent radiative-hydrodynamic (RHD) models, which use a solar-type flare heating function from accelerated, nonthermal electrons, do not reproduce this emission spectrum. Instead, these models predict that the white-light is dominated by Balmer continuum emission from Hydrogen recombination in the chromosphere (Allred et al. 2006). Moreover, Allred et al. (2006) showed that the Johnson colors of the model prediction exhibit a broadband distribution similar to a blackbody with T~9000 K.

We briefly present recent progress using the ASH code to model in 3-D the solar convection, dynamo and its coupling to the deep radiative interior. We show how the presence of a self-consistent tachocline influences greatly the organization of the magnetic field and modifies the thermal structure of the convection zone leading to realistic profiles of the mean flows as deduced by helioseismology.

Stars are usually faint point sources and investigating their surfaces and interiors observationally is very demanding. Here I give a review on the state-of-the-art observing techniques and recent results on studying interiors and surface features of active stars.

Three-dimensional information on Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) can be obtained from a wide range of in-situ measurements and remote-sensing techniques. Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) and white-light imaging sensed from several vantage points can be used to infer the 3-D geometry of the different parts that constitute a CME. High-resolution and high-cadence coronal imaging provides detailed information on the formation and release phase of a magnetic flux rope, the lateral expansion of the CME and the reconfiguration of the corona associated with the effects of pressure variations and reconnection. The evolution of the CME in the interplanetary medium and the connection of its various substructures with in-situ measurements can be obtained from multi-point heliospheric imaging.

As the Sun emerges from a period of unprecedented low activity, the nature of the Sun's magnetic field compared to that of other stars is a particularly timely question. Just as observations of the full 3D structure of the solar magnetic field are becoming available through STEREO and SDO, advances in spectropolarimetric techniques now allow us to map the surface magnetic fields of other stars, revealing the great diversity of magnetic geometries that stars of different masses and rotation rates can display. This has now been possible for over 60 main sequence stars, with a smaller number of younger, pre-main sequence stars also mapped. Modelling of coronal structures based on these observations is revealing the full nature of stellar magnetic activity and its possible impact on orbiting planets.

We discuss predictions for cycle 24 and the way forward if progress is to be made for cycle 25 and beyond.

We discuss possible mechanisms underlying the observed features of stellar activity cycles, such as multiple periodicities in very active stars, non-cyclic activity observed in moderately active stars, and spatial distribution of stellar magnetic regions. We review selected attempts to model the dependence of stellar activity cycles on stellar properties, and their comparison with observations. We suggest that combined effects of dynamo action, flux emergence and surface flux transport have substantial effects on the long-term manifestations of stellar magnetism.

The Kepler photometer was launched in March 2009 initiating NASA's search for Earth-size planets orbiting in the habitable zone of their star. After three years of science operations, Kepler has proven to be a veritable cornucopia of science results, both for exoplanets and for astrophysics. The phenomenal photometric precision and continuous observations required in order to identify small, rocky transiting planets enables the study of a large range of phenomena contributing to stellar variability for many thousands of solar-like stars in Kepler's field of view in exquisite detail. These effects range from <1 ppm acoustic oscillations on timescales from a few minutes and longward, to flares on timescales of hours, to spot-induced modulation on timescales of days to weeks to activity cycles on timescales of months to years. Recent improvements to the science pipeline have greatly enhanced Kepler's ability to reject instrumental signatures while better preserving intrinsic stellar variability, opening up the timescales for study well beyond 10 days. We give an overview of the stellar variability we see across the full range of spectral types observed by Kepler, from the cool, small red M stars to the hot, large late A stars, both in terms of amplitude as well as timescale. We also present a picture of what the extended mission will likely bring to the field of stellar variability as we progress from a 3.5 year mission to a 7.5+ year mission.