The IAEAC has organized, since 1983, a series of workshops related to Trace Metal Speciation. To date, ten meetings of this type were held throughout Europe and in Canada. Although the scientific scope of these workshops slightly changed over the years, the major emphasis has primarily been on environmental process and effect studies rather than on analytical methodologies for metal speciation. Starting in 2000, with the eighth meeting of the series, analytical chemistry was made the focal point of the workshop as indicated by the change of its title into "Progress in Analytical Methodologies for Trace Metal Speciation". It is expected that this is an adequate approach to accept the challenges associated with studying the behaviour of trace metals in the environment and their interaction with biota.