xxiii Preface Dissemination of knowledge and medical and public education constitute fundamental objectives of the ERS mission, and the ERS aims to provide excellence in respiratory medicine education. In 2005, the ERS School started the very ambitious HERMES (Harmonised Education in Respiratory Medicine for European Specialists) project. Since then, HERMES Task Forces have formed to standardise training and education within different specialties of respiratory medicine. To support the implementation of various educational activities, the ERS has produced a series of Handbooks as educational tools, with the first edition of the ERS Handbook of Respiratory Medicine launched in 2010. Starting in 2007, the paediatric respiratory medicine task force, using a formal consensus process and working with numerous experts throughout Europe, developed a HERMES syllabus (description of the competencies required) and a HERMES curriculum (description of how competencies should be taught, learned and assessed), as well as a voluntary European examination in paediatric respiratory medicine. With the content reflecting the HERMES syllabus and curriculum (published in 2009 and 2010, respectively), the first edition of the ERS Handbook of Paediatric Respiratory Medicine was published in 2013 and, as a compact state-of-the-art textbook, provided a comprehensive update for specialists within this field of respiratory medicine. This second edition of the ERS Handbook of Paediatric Respiratory Medicine reflects the updated European paediatric respiratory medicine syllabus (published in 2019), which has been streamlined and made more relevant to current practice. The Handbook again consists of concise, peer-reviewed chapters written by experts in the field. We hope that this second edition will not only inform our trainees and be a valuable resource for those preparing for the paediatric HERMES examination but also provide an easily accessible and comprehensive update for colleagues at all levels of seniority, across paediatric respiratory medicine. Thus, this updated Handbook is intended to make a significant contribution to increasing the standards of training in paediatric respiratory medicine throughout and outside of Europe and, ultimately, to improving the care of children with respiratory disease. We are grateful to the ERS Education Council and to the ERS publications staff who so thoroughly and thoughtfully curated the second edition of this Handbook, and last, but not least, to all the contributors who have shared their knowledge and experience with you. Ernst Eber and Fabio Midulla Chief editors “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” (Uncertain source)