There is increasing interest in and progress withG2 Compactifications.
On the one hand the Standard Model of particle physics, and grand unified extensions, have been embedded in manifolds with G2 holonomy. On the other hand it is possible to simultaneously stabilize all moduli, introduce supersymmetry breaking, and have the apparently observed unification of the gauge couplings. Achieving the embedding and these goals simultaneously seems to be easier than in other limits of M theory. However, as you know, there is still relatively little known about G2 manifolds. In particular the construction of compact examples with conical singularities is an important mathematical question with important physics applications.
We are organizing this workshop to try to greatly increase communication between mathematicians, string theorists, and particle theorists in this area.
There will be talks designed to familiarize all the participants about the status, issues, and progress with G2 compactifications, and considerable time left for discussion.