News archive

EMB Executive Director Sheila Heymans’ publishes opinion article ‘Managing Marine Ecosystems Today and into the Future’ in the May/June issue of EcoMagazine.

The 2019 edition of the European Commission's European Maritime Day is being held in Lisbon, Portugal on 16-17 May. EMB, through both the Secretariat and also via its member organizations, are represented at this event. EMB has a visual presence through a booth, where many of EMB's publications are available. EMB are also involved in two workshops at the event. The workshop on Using Big Data to stimulate ocean innovation is co-organized by Campus Mondial de la Mer, EMB and EMODnet. This workshop is the first activity linked to the Big Data working group. EMB Executive Director Sheila Heymans will also chair the workshop Towards stronger cross-basin R&I collaboration.

On 9-10 May 2019, the members of the new EMB working group on Big Data met in Ostend, Belgium for their kick-off meeting. The working group, which will produce a number of shorter outputs on the topic of Big Data and its links to Marine Science, is led by Chair Lionel Guidi (Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche-sur-Mer, France) and Co-chair Antonio Fernandez Guerra (Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Germany).The first activity linked to this group will be a workshop on Using Big Data to stimulate ocean innovation at European Maritime Day 2019. You can find out more about this working group here.

We are delighted to introduce our two EMB Young Ambassadors! We can now announce that Alba González Vega, a PhD student from University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and EMB member IEO, and Liam Lachs, a PhD student from Newcastle University, whose work is funded by EMB member NERC have been selected! You can find out more about them here. We look forward to working with them.

The programme for the EurOCEAN 2019 Conference, to be held on 11-12 June 2019 at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France is now online! The programme features modetaors, speakers and panelists from a diverse range of backgrounds, as well as EMB members themselves. You can download a copy of the programme here.

We are also delighted to announce that the Conference is recognised as a contribution to the preparatory phase of the UN Decade for Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. We will be displaying the Ocean Decade logo on our materials with pride.

You can find out all about the conference and register to attend here.

On 3 April 2019, EMB launched its new Future Science Brief no.5 at an event in the European Parliament, co-organized with the SEARICA Intergroup. The publication, on "Valuing Marine Ecosystem Services: Taking into account the value of ecosystem benefits in the Blue Economy" calls for a better incorporation of the values stemming from marine ecosystem services and natural capital in marine management and policy decisions. The launch event was attended by over 50 participants and speakers, and was hosted by MEP's Gesine Meissner and Ricardo Serrão Santos.

You can find out more about the publication here, and read the event report here.

Britt Alexander joined the EMB Secretariat on Monday 11 March 2019 as a Science Officer. Brittany Alexander (PhD 2015) holds a BSc in Biological Sciences from the University of Bristol, UK, a MSc in Biotechnology from McGill University, Canada, and a PhD in Marine Biology from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Her PhD work led to the characterisation of the cellular mechanisms underlying the Sponge Loop pathway by which sponges recycle nutrients in the ocean, and has applications in advancing sustainable sponge aquaculture. After her PhD Britt worked at the Swiss-based publisher Frontiers (2016-2019) contributing to the development and management of the open-access journal Frontiers in Marine Science. At EMB, she will take on the new activity on Big Data, as well as other activities within the Secretariat.

You can find her contact details here. 

Experts from across Europe gathered in Ostend, Belgium to discuss the future of oceans and human health research

On 11-12 June 2019, the high-level science-policy conference EurOCEAN 2019 will take place in Paris. EurOCEAN 2019, the 5^th in the EurOCEAN conference series, will explore the role of marine science in the next decade.

On 4 and 5 December 2018 the European Marine Board Communication Panel (EMBCP), organises the third international marine science communications conference, CommOCEAN 2018. The event, which takes place in Southampton (UK) and hosted by the National Oceanography Centre, gathers 150 participants from 25 countries, specialised in marine science communication, to discuss the latest issues facing the ocean, and to improve their skills and learn best practice with regards to communicating with the public, peers and governments about ocean science.