Effective field theories in particle physics are usually designed for experiments where the initial state — the vacuum before a scattering event — is clean and isolated. Yet many systems, from condensed matter to cosmology, evolve in noisy and dissipative environments. This has driven significant progress at the interface of high-energy and condensed matter physics. Originally developed for non-equilibrium quantum systems, the Schwinger–Keldysh formalism provides a field-theoretic framework for modelling dissipation and noise, leading to major advances in areas such as quark–gluon plasma, dissipative hydrodynamics, non-equilibrium holography, and primordial cosmology.

However, the communities applying these techniques rarely have the chance to interact. This conference aimed to bridge that gap by bringing together researchers in cosmology, black hole physics, holography, and dissipative hydrodynamics to exchange ideas, set shared goals, and advance the study of Schwinger–Keldysh Effective Field Theories.