The European Marine Board (EMB) provides an independent pan-European platform to its marine scientific Member Organisations to establish common research priorities, to promote marine research and to close the gap between marine science and policy. VLIZ represents FWO as a European Marine Board Member and was given the mandate by the Flemish government to accommodate and support the EMB Secretariat. The EMB Secretariat, hosted by VLIZ at the new InnovOcean campus, benefits from VLIZ support through the use of the general VLIZ infrastructure, IT support, and one EMB staff member.
Professor Jan Mees, VLIZ General Director, served as the Chair of the EMB from 2014 until June 2019 and remains involved as the Delegate of FWO within the EMB Board by participating in the bi-annual Board meetings. Professor Mees attended the Autumn Plenary 2024, which was hosted by EMB Member the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR) in Rhodes, Greece on 1-2 October 2024 as a hybrid event. During the meeting, EMB approved the formalisation of the EMB Early Career Ocean
A new EMB Working Group topic on ‘Biomolecular approaches for the observation, management and prediction of marine life patterns and trends’ was selected and currently a Terms of Reference is being written. There are currently two additional ongoing EMB Working Groups including: one on Deep Sea and Ocean health, and on Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of marine Carbon Dioxide Removal. The latter Working Group held its kick-off meeting at VLIZ in August 2024. Dr. Peter Landschützer, VLIZ’ Research Director, is one of the members.
During 2024 the EMB also hosted the 40 Years of Ecopath conference and subsequent training courses, that showcased and discussed new updates and methodologies to model food webs using the Ecopath algorithms. This conference was co-hosted by VLIZ, and VLIZ also sponsored three young scientists outside Europe to be able to participate in the conference and training courses through its Sea as a Good Cause programme.
On 23 October 2024, the sixth edition of EMB’s flagship marine science foresight publication series Navigating the Future (NFVI) was launched at Talk C.E.C in Brussels, Belgium and online. NFVI was written by scientists that represent all EMB members, with Dr. Ruth Plets, from VLIZ being a co-author of the chapter on Ocean and Climate.
The CommOCEAN 2024 Conference took place on 26-27 November 2024 in Málaga, Spain. Organized by the European Marine Board Communication Panel (EMBCP) and hosted by Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO-CSIC). Dr Jan Seys, VLIZ Head of Science Communication/spokesperson and member of the EMBCP, organized and moderated a session on fostering engagement in citizen science projects, in which Dr Nancy Fockedey, Senior Science Officer in Science Communication at VLIZ, presented a roadmap for effective aquatic citizen science. Dr. Bart De Smet, Senior Science Officer Science Communication at VLIZ, presented a digital entry at the conference on the Sea Science Festival ‘ZEEKERWETEN’.
In 2024, VLIZ PhD candidates Clea Parcerisas and Marine Severin collaborated with sound artist Elise Guillaume of the ‘Waves of Resonance’ project that addresses the psychological impact of climate change and the therapeutic potential of Ocean sound, including a workshop with the public at the VLIZ Dag van de Weternschap. The project was funded by EMB’s EMBracing the Ocean artist-in-residence programme.
Throughout 2024, the European Marine Board continued to provider of high-quality science-policy advice. EMB publications are designed for a non-technical audience, providing recommendations for future research and capacity building which can be addressed by European and national funding mechanisms.
The VLIZ head of Science Communications, Jan Seys, continues to actively support the EMB Communications Panel (EMBCP). In general, VLIZ staff continued to actively attend and participate in EMB’s strategic events and activities throughout 2024.