The aim of this Conference is to bring together physicists working on strong interacting dense matter, QCD phase diagram, ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions with astrophysicists working on Compact Stars (from their birth in core-collapse supernovae  to their old age as cold radio pulsars including binary merger events) and on related phenomena.  
A profound theoretical description of these phenomena necessarily involves the equation  of state and transport properties of QCD matter that are derived from nonperturbative  quantum field theories, many-body physics of strong interacting matter and phenomenological investigations.

The conference will cover recent developments in the following main topics:

• Equation of state and QCD phase transitions

• QCD in astrophysics of compact stellar objects, supernovae and compact stars mergers

• Strangeness in Compact Stars

• Strange Stars

• Hadron production in heavy-ion collisions

• Nonequilibrium and transport phenomena in dense matter

In addition, given that the LNGS is one of the world leading laboratories on neutrino physics, special attention will be devoted to neutrino emission from supernovae and their possible detection in underground detectors, as well as related topics in neutrino physics. We plan to have a dedicated day for seminars by local researchers about ongoing underground experiments at LNGS.

In conjunction with CSQCD we will organize the New CompStar Working Group 2  Meeting (Physics of the strong interaction, theory and experiment) in close collaboration with the Working Group leader Jerome Margueron. As proposed by Jerome, the WG2 meeting will focus on “QCD matter EoS and Compact Stars”. We plan to have a session of the conference exclusively dedicated to the WG2, with an introductory talk given  by the WG2 leader, a few talks given by  some of the WG2 Topic Leaders, followed by  a  1 - 2 hours round table for a wider discussion open to all the participants to the two events.