This volume is a proceedings of the 2020 Banff International Research Station (BIRS) workshop “Interactions of gauge theory with contact and symplectic topology in dimensions 3 and 4”. This was the sixth iteration of a recurring workshop held in Banff. Regrettably, the workshop was not held onsite but was instead an online gathering over Zoom, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, one benefit of the online format was that the participant list could be expanded beyond the usual strict limit of 42 individuals. It seemed to be also fitting, given the altered circumstances and larger than usual list of participants, to take the opportunity to put together a conference proceedings.

The result is this volume, which features papers showcasing research from participants at the sixth Interactions workshop (or earlier ones). As the title suggests, the emphasis is on research in gauge theory, contact and symplectic topology, and low-dimensional topology. The volume contains sixteen refereed papers, and it is representative of the many excellent talks and fascinating results presented at the Interactions workshops over the years since its inception in 2007.

We take this opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of Dennis Auroux and Olivier Collin, who were instrumental in founding and organizing the BIRS Interactions workshops. Partial funding was provided by NSF grant DMS1454865 and the Georgia Institute of Technology's Elaine M. Hubbard Distinguished Faculty Award. We thank Conall Hegarty and Fintan Hegarty for their rapid and professional copy-editing services. We also thank Alex Scorpan and Silvio Levy, our contacts at Mathematical Sciences Publishers, for all their help and support throughout the publication process.

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