On the occasion of Professor Rao's 80th birthday, the School of Mathematics and Statistics and Institute of Big Data at Yunnan University is pleased to host a conference celebrating Professor Rao's research contributions. Professor Jiahua Chen, a long-time research collaborator of Professor Rao and the Director of Research Institute of Big Data at Yunnan University, is the Chair of the Organizing Committee. The conference brings together a distinguished group of researchers from many countries and presents a world-class scientific program on contemporary theory and practice in survey sampling.