The application of learning styles theory and research continues to hold great promise for practitioners in both education and training as a potentially powerful mechanism for enabling pupils, students and trainees to better manage their own learning throughout their educational and working lives. The selection of papers from the 10th annual European Learning Styles Information Network conference (held in July 2005 at the School of Management, University of Surrey) presented here raise a number of pertinent issues which are significant in the on-going debate regarding the value of cognitive and learning styles in education and training practice