Dates: 24-25 April 2024
Venue: Online
The Board elected Fiona Grant (Marine Institute, Ireland) as the new Chair of EMB, following the end of Gilles Lericolais' (Ifremer, France) five-year term. Rosa Fernandez (CETMAR, Spain) was also re-elected for a second term as Vice-Chair.
Fiona Grant presenting her candidacy for the role of EMB Chair
The Board also had an opportunity to meet the new and current EMB Young Ambassadors, who also updated the Board on their recent and upcoming activities, including the EMB ECOP Network Forum which took place in October 2023.
The EMB Young Ambassadors present themselves and their planned activities at the Spring Plenary 2024 meeting. From left to right: Alexandra Hahn, Riwan Leroux, Virginia Morejon. Not in image: Laura Ciriminna.
In terms of science activities, the Board received updates on the ongoing working groups on Marine Habitat Mapping, Deep Sea and Ocean Health and a new activity on Marine Carbon Dioxide Removal. The Board was updated on the activities towards developing the new edition of the EMB flagship foresight publication series, Navigating the Future VI. Impact reports were presented for the EMB Publications on Underwater Noise and Marine Geohazards. An update was also given regarding EMB's engagement in ongoing H2020 projects EcoScope, BRIDGE-BS, RHE-mediation and BAMBOO, as well as the EMODnet tender, the ERASMUS+ project FLORES and the new DG MARE/CINEA tender on IPOS.
The Board received an update on EMB's support of the Ocean Decade as an Implementing Partner, including the "EMBracing the Ocean" Ocean Decade artist-in-residency programme, where they were introduced to the newly selected artists for 2024-2025, and the Secretariat's engagement in the recent UN Ocean Decade Conference.
The new EMBracing the Ocean programme artists present themselves and their planned work at the Spring Plenary 2024 meeting. From left to right: Ruwanthi Gajadeera, Elise Guillaume.
An open session was hosted by the EMB Secretariat and focused on Digital Twins of the Ocean. The session was opened by Sheila Heymans, Executive Director of EMB, and featured presentations and discussions including examples of ongoing activities on this topic. The closing remarks were given by EMB Chair Gilles Lericolais. The presentations can be seen below
- European Commission plans for DTO - Nicolas Segebarth (DG RTD, European Commission)
- A Vision for Digital Twins of the Ocean - Pierre Bahurel (Mercator Ocean International)
- Practical Example - Environmental Monitoring and Aquaculture - Ute Brönner (SINTEF Ocean, Norway)
- Practical Example - Oil Spill DTO - Georgios Sylaios (Democritus University of Thrace, Greece)
The EMB Secretariat thanked outgoing EMB Chair Gilles Lericolais