The Rural Geography group of the Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, feels honoured to host the 3rd European Rural Geography Conference. The conference theme is Rural Geographies in Transition. Rural areas in Europe are under increasing and intersecting pressures and transitions. The landscapes, the actors, the uses, the challenges, and the ways in which the rural is produced and reproduced, are all changing rapidly. This brings forward new research questions and asks for new approaches, both in terms of theoretical perspectives and in terms of empirics, on topics such as population developments, socio-spatial inequalities, governance and policies, economic challenges, quality of life, smart villages, landscape transitions, rural entrepreneurship, agricultural transformations, rural housing, energy transitions and climate change adaptation.