Concluding Remarks

In the local universe, a small percentage of galaxies may host extraordinarily luminous and energetic activity due to the rapid and efficient formation of stars, starbursts (SB) and/or active galactic nuclei (AGN) where the energy release is due to accretion on to a central, supermassive black hole. For both phenomena the enhanced activity can be 100 to 1000 times that in ’non-active’ galaxies. Although there is general consensus that these diverse activities are related at least circumstantially (e.g. by dynamic triggering of galaxy interactions or stellar bars and by a high abundance of interstellar gas which may fuel both) – major uncertainty persists with respect to temporal sequence (their order and relative duration), their interaction (fueling and feedback) and their role in the early universe (formation and buildup of galaxies and relative contributions to the reionization of the universe). The rapid development of multi-wavelength observations during the last decade has provided considerable constraints while many theoretical studies probed more deeply the physics inside these two phenomena. The goal of this conference was to review recent progress, to present new results, to plan future work, and to establish collaborations between people both observationally and theoretically. For the meeting, scientists from over 20 different countries travelled, many from half way around the globe – we appreciate their attendance immensely. This meeting provided the first in-depth presentation of the extensive observational results from the Spitzer Space Telescope of mid-IR spectroscopy and imaging/photometry as well as new detailed theoretical modelling of the relationship and interaction of the SB and AGN phenomena. Major new studies have also been completed for the local universe from SDSS and other ground-based