This volume contains the proceedings of the "International Workshop on Optical Methods and the Physics of Colloidal Dispersions", held in memory of Prof. Dr. Klaus Schätzel at the end of September, 1996, in Mainz, Germany. The meeting focused on two special aspects of colloidal science, namely novel optical methods and the physics of colloidal dispersions. In particular, the contributed papers show that the increase in the quality and number of suitable model systems has significantly enhanced our knowledge of colloidal properties, structures and dynamics.