The EMB Spring Plenary convened for two days in Ghent, Belgium. The meeting brought together 28 EMB delegates as well as observers and guests from the European Commission, JPI Oceans, UNESCO-IOC, POGO, and the Flemish Government. The Board elected two new vice-Chairs, Jan-Stefan Fritz of KDM and Mark James of MASTS, and a new membership application from the Lithuanian Klaipeda University was approved. Furthermore, the Board approved a new activity on Citizen Science to start in late 2015. The delegates were also updated on the running activities, e.g. the Deep-Sea working group preparing for the launch of the EMB strategic position paper on 1 September, and the 5th EMB Forum, Ocean-Climate Nexus, taking place on 21 October at the European Parliament in the lead up to COP 21. The meeting included a Special Session on Changing legal and policy framework for the study and utilization of marine biodiversity, with talks from Prof. Marcel Jaspars (EU FP7 PharmaSea/Univ. of Aberdeen), Dr. John Brincat (EC DG MARE) and Dr. Arianna Broggiato (Univ. of Leuven). The evening ended with an inspiring and thought-provoking lecture on foresight and horizon-scanning by Prof. Michael Depledge (ECEHH, Univ. of Exeter Medical School). You can read more about the highlights of the EMB Spring Plenary here.