News archive

The EMB Autumn Plenary convened on 18-19 October 2017 in Galway, Ireland. The meeting brought together 15 delegates and was hosted by EMB member the Marine Institute. The meeting took place at the Institute in County Galway. There was interesting and fruitful discussions, and two existing members officially expanded their membership to become consortia; we welcome the Norwegian Marine University Consortium and the Romanian Black Sea Research Cluster. The members also approved two new activities on Marine Geohazards and European Research Vessels. More information will be posted in due course.

Today we launch our new policy brief number 5 on “Marine Citizen Science: Towards and engaged and ocean literate society” (pdf). Following the release of our position paper on “Advancing Citizen Science for Coastal and Ocean Research” (pdf) in May 2017, we now present a summary of the main messages and recommendations.

The European Marine Board is pleased to announce its latest Policy Brief on Marine Biotechnology: Advancing Innovation in Europe’s Bioeconomy. This was developed in collaboration with the Marine Biotechnology ERA-NET (ERA-MBT). The Policy Brief presents the latest advancements, opportunities and challenges of marine biotechnology, as a fast growing Blue Growth area with diversified applications to human health and wellbeing.

On Friday 25 August 2017, Prof. Sheila Heymans officially accepted the post of European Marine Board Executive Director.

Today EMB bids farewell to Executive Director, Niall McDonough, who has been with the organisation since 2009.

On Monday 17 July, Charlotte Simon joined the EMB Secretariat as a Junior Science Officer Trainee.

Today sees the launch of the Belem statement, a joint Declaration on Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Cooperation between the European Union, Brazil and South Africa. This follows the Galway statement for the North Atlantic cooperation, signed in 2013, and reflects a significant move towards a joined up, integrated approach to research and development across the whole Atlantic Ocean and its bordering countries.

Today, 7 July 2017, the European Marine Board launches a new activity on end-to-end marine ecosystem modelling with a horizon scanning workshop ‘Shaping Future Research Agendas’ at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (Marine Matters Centre), United Kingdom.

EMB’s newest expert working group on ‘Strengthening Europe's Capability in Biological Ocean Observation’ (WG BIO OBS) held its kick-off meeting on 22 and 23 June in Pisa (Italy) at the Rectorate of the University of Pisa, home institution of the Chair Prof. Lisandro Benedetti-Cecchi. This working group has been convened to recommend gaps and priorities for enhancing the current biological ocean observing capacity as a component of the wider European Ocean Observing System (EOOS) that is fit-for-purpose in the context of user needs and societal benefits. Comprising 12 expert on marine biological observations, the group foresees the publication of a Future Science Brief in Spring 2018.