The largest coral reef conference, 15th ICRS 2022, is the first ICRS in the more than 50-year history that took place in Europe. Here we have summarised the key messages of the plenary speakers while also capturing the event of over 1000 in person participants from over 80 countries. This project has been a pleasure to be a part of. Talking with so many marine researchers from all over the world has given me great insights into the current state of research. I am so happy that we got to capture these messages for the years to remember.