The 5^th Ballarat Workshop on Global and Nonsmooth Optimization: Theory, Methods and Applications held at the University of Ballarat, Australia from November 28 till November 30, 2006. This workshop was dedicated to the memory of Professor Alexander Rubinov.

Professor Rubinov along with Professor Barney Glover was founder a new tradition at the University of Ballarat. They were organizers of 1^st Ballarat Workshop on Optimization in 1994. Since then four optimization workshops have been organized by Alex Rubinov in Ballarat. This workshop was the first workshop without Alex.

The workshop aimed at bringing together experts from Australia, Pacific region and around the world in the area of optimization theory, methods and applications to meet and exchange their recent research findings and to discuss possible joint projects. The topics of the workshop include all areas of optimization, optimal control and their applications.

The workshop was sponsored by the Centre for Informatics and Applied Optimization, School of Information Technology and Mathematical Sciences, University of Ballarat, Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute, IBM Global Services Australia and Australian Research Council Research Network on Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks and Information Processing (ISSNIP). We are grateful for their support.

There were more than 60 participants from 12 different countries.  The technical program features 2 keynote lectures, 28 invited lectures and 17 regular presentations. The workshop program also included a memorial service for the late Professor Alexander Rubinov.  Participants of the workshop visited Alex’s grave.