Nonlocal probes, or defects, are emerging as central tools in modern theoretical physics. They play a key role in areas ranging from generalized symmetries and critical phenomena to quantum information and holography. This conference will bring together researchers from high-energy theory, condensed matter physics, quantum information, and computational physics, to connect recent advances across these fields and develop new perspectives on defects in strongly interacting and gapless systems. The aim is to identify universal structures across different approaches to strongly coupled physics and to foster new collaborations between these communities.