Aspects of superconformal symmetry

In this thesis we study classical aspects of superconformal field theory via symmetry principles. Specifically, by employing the powerful setup of conformal superspace, we obtain a plethora of new results. These include: (i) the higher symmetries of the conformal d’Alembertian, massless Wess-Zumino and Sohnius operators as well as their massive counterparts in four dimensions; (ii) free actions for N-extended superconformal higher-spin gauge multiplets in four dimensions and several families of non-linear and U(1)-duality invariant extensions; and (iii) a superspace formulation for two dimensional conformal (p,q) supergravity for general p and q. The obtained results open up numerous novel research pathways.