Orogeneses as the result of colliding continental plates were common in the Earth's past. Numerous orogens were intensively studied, but the nature of the related collisional zones and the diversity of the collision processes are still little understood in detail. For instance, the size of colliding plates and the extent of the wholesale underthrusting of one plate under the other are often poorly defined. Furthermore, melting processes during orogenesis and their rheological influence and the extent of crustal foundering during a late orogenic stage are under debate. Thus, we would like to draw attention to this tectonic environment and invite a broad spectrum of geoscientists, including petrologists, structural geologists, sedimentologists and geophysicists, to present their process-oriented studies to this interdisciplinary symposium. These studies should include various aspects of the top to the bottom features of the corresponding geodynamic systems as well as modelling attempts.