The 8th PhD Symposium on Future Directions in Information Access (FDIA) will be held in conjunction with the 8th International Conference on the Theory of Information Retrieval (ICTIR 2018) in Tianjin, China. The symposium aims to provide a forum for early stage researchers such as PhD students, to share their research and interact with each other and senior researchers in an informal and relaxed atmosphere. The symposium provides an excellent opportunity for the participants to promote their work and obtain experience in presenting and communicating their research. The participants will learn about different topics in the area of information access and retrieval, receive feedback on their work, meet lots of peers and hear inspiring talks.