An awareness of problems related to land subsidence and its anthropogenic causes has been growing worldwide since the second half of the Twentieth century. The problem of land subsidence was first included by the UNESCO projects in the International Hydrological Decade (HD) in 1964, and later in the International Hydrological Program (IHP). This resulted in the organization of eight International Symposia on Land Subsidence sponsored by the UNESCO that were held in Tokyo (1969), Anaheim (1976), Venice (1984), Houston (1991), The Hague (1995), Ravenna (2000), Shanghai (2005) and Querétaro (2010). Land subsidence has become an important area of research in Japan, other countries of South East Asia and globally. UNESCO and the Tokai Three Prefecture Investigation Committee on Land Subsidence of Japan invite you to attend the Ninth International Symposium on Land Subsidence (NISOLS) planned for 15–19 November 2015 in Nagoya, Japan. The NISOLS conference will present a high standard of scientific and technical information to scientists, engineers, and end users of the studies on land subsidence and associate hazards. Objectives The amount of the groundwater extraction increased rapidly during a period of high economic growth leading up to the mid-1960s, and land subsidence was generated on a nationwide scale in Japan. The Nobi Plain west of Nagoya is one–subsidence damage was large. Land subsidence in Japan has been largely arrested owing in large part to laws and ordinances that restrict groundwater pumping. However, the accumulated historical subsidence exposes the coastal areas to flooding related to high tides and the tsunamis. Recently, the groundwater control without generating land subsidence is requested from the viewpoint of the hydrological cycle. Moreover, the collapse of underground voids created during mining of lignite causes damages to buildings in the northern part of the Nagoya area. Research on mitigating the collapse of these underground voids is vitally needed. Additionally, the shoreline has subsided as a result of the massive earthquake that overcame the Tohoku region in Japan on March 11, 2011 exacerbating damage from flooding. Research on land subsidence attributed to liquefaction and diastrophism that the massive earthquake caused is needed. Geologists, geophysicist, hydrologists, geotechnical engineers, other scientists, resource managers and stakeholders are encouraged to participate in this symposium and contribute papers describing the development of new techniques for monitoring, analysis, interpretation and prediction of subsidence and (or) related ground-failure/fracturing processes. Case studies of applied science and engineering and social/cultural investigations of these processes are welcome.