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Low metallicity galaxies, are fundamental laboratories for understanding the physics of galaxy evolution, across cosmic time. As the first systems to form in the early Universe and as nearby analogues accessible at high spatial resolution, low metallicity galaxies provide unique insight into the interplay between the ISM, star formation, feedback, and chemical enrichment under extreme conditions. With new and upcoming facilities poised to reveal distant low-metallicity systems at unprecedented sensitivity, while local observations provide resolved constraints on the underlying physical processes, the time is ripe to connect these complementary perspectives.

This conference will bring together theorists and observers working across all redshifts to address outstanding questions, including the following.

• How do ISM structure, phase balance, dust evolution, and chemical enrichment depend on metallicity across cosmic time, and how do these processes regulate star formation, including the roles of molecular hydrogen, CO-dark gas, and low-metallicity PDRs?
• How does feedback operate in metal-poor environments, from stellar winds and supernovae to more extreme sources such as Population III stars, X-ray binaries, and intermediate-mass black holes, and how does it shape how galaxies evolve across cosmic time?
• How can nearby low-metallicity systems and high-redshift observations be combined to develop robust diagnostics and establish a common physical framework for interpreting low-metallicity galaxies and constraining early galaxy evolution?

The conference will explore the capabilities of future facilities to characterise metal-poor galaxies and connect resolved studies in the nearby Universe with observations of the earliest galaxies.

The event will welcome approximately 80 participants.

• Angela ADAMO (Stockholm University, Sweden)
• Guido DE MARCHI (ESA, Noordwijk, Netherlands)
• Frédéric GALLIANO (CEA Paris-Saclay, France; chair)
• Deidre HUNTER (Lowell Observatory, USA)
• Rémy INDEBETOUW (University of Virginia, Charlottesville & NRAO, USA)
• Suzanne MADDEN (CEA Paris-Saclay, France; chair)
• Daniel SCHAERER (Université de Genève, Switzerland)
• Elizabeth TARANTINO (STScI, Baltimore, USA)