Interest in agent-oriented technology continues to grow, both at a theoretical level and a practical level, with the UK maintaining a strong representation in the area in both academic institutions and commercial organizations. In December 1997, the Second UK Workshop on Foundations of Multi-Agent Systems (FoMAS'97), held at the University of Warwick, built on the success of FoMAS'96 a year earlier (Luck, 1997; Doran et al., 1997; d'Inverno et al., 1997; Fisher et al., 1997) in seeking to provide a forum for academics and industrialists within the UK to present and discuss current directions in research and applications development. Supported by the EPSRC and HP Labs, FoMAS'97 was expanded to two days with invited presentations from Professor Ken Binmore of UCL, and Professor Cristiano Castelfranchi of the Italian National Research Council's Institute of Psychology, in addition to paper presentations and panel discussions. The aim again was to provide an opportunity for promoting and supporting activity in the research and development of multi-agent systems.