The EuroSTELLS Workshop 'Stem Cell Niches', organised by Anna Bigas, Ernest Arenas and Pasqualino Loi, took place in January 2008 in Barcelona, Spain. The goal of the conference was to promote scientific collaboration and synergy between stem cell researchers worldwide and those in the EuroSTELLS consortia (an initiative of the European Science Foundation EUROCORES Programme), and to stimulate discussion of the latest results in the field of stem cell niches.