This special issue is inspired by the motto of the 2023 INQUA conference held in Rome, Italy, in July 2023. The years since the last INQUA conference held in Dublin in 2019 have indeed been times of change in many respects, but the programme of this year’s INQUA conference impressively documents that Quaternary research has accepted and coped with these challenges. This special issue aims at assembling contributions reflecting the advances in all fields of Quaternary research. Finally, it celebrates that E&G QSJ received its first impact factor and CiteScore in July 2023. As a community-based journal, we especially welcome contributions from young researchers.