Welcome to our latest EBMA newsletter. I have the privilege and the pleasure to become the new President of EBMA. Due to various domestic pressures Prof. dame Lesley Southgate has decided to step down as President. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Lesley for her considerable vision and drive to bring EBMA to the point of maturity that we are at now. Lesley will still be involved in EBMA as Past President and we look forward to continuing working with her. In addition we have the separate participants meeting which gives the board ideas and wishes for future developments.

I mentioned the maturity of EBMA. As you look through this newsletter you will have a feel of the current level of engagement that EBMA has with its members and the academic assessment world as a whole. I am particularly pleased that we have now begun individual membership which is enlarging our community.

We have just had our second annual conference in Egmond (the Netherlands) and it was a pleasure to meet so many of you there. The quality of the plenaries, symposia, oral presentations and posters remains at the highest level and your feedback has been great. The next conference in Braga promises that same level of academic excellence in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.