The objective of this EMBO Workshop is to discuss advances in prokaryotic cell division. Most archaea and bacteria divide using a ring-structure formed by the tubulin homologue FtsZ, the Z-ring. Research over several decades has revealed the physiology, cell biology and molecular mechanisms of one of biology’s most iconic and most conserved processes. FtsZ filaments have been shown to dynamically organise the ring-shaped division site and the coupling of the Z-ring to the machinery that makes cell wall on the outside of the cell is one of the hallmarks of the division process in bacteria. Furthermore, cell division needs to be regulated very carefully in space and time and several such systems have been discovered and are being investigated. Not all prokaryotes have cell wall or even divide using FtsZ, and we are also bringing together scientists who are starting to unravel alternative mechanisms, some of which are thought to be the ancestral version of cell division in eukaryotes. With the latest incarnation of this long-running EMBO Workshop, we will connect world-class scientists from across disciplines, such as genetics, cell biology, imaging, structural biology and biochemistry, across different career stages and across several continents to foster new ideas and collaborations.