A symposium held in Durham in July 1995 brought together an international collection of key mathematicians, theoretical physicists and experimentalists in the areas of liquid crystals and polymeric systems. Many of the participants met together for the first time, and the symposium stimulated new collaborative interactions among applied mathematicians and others who, prior to this meeting, were working separately on either liquid crystals or polymer fluids. The symposium also enhanced further interchanges of ideas between industry and academia. The flavour of this meeting is captured by the contents of this special issue which resulted from presentations given by invited speakers.