Under the aegis of the North Sea Hydrographic Commission, a workshop on marine sand wave dynamics was organised by the French Naval Hydrographic and Oceanographic Office (SHOM) and the University of Lille 1 (France) back in 2000. This workshop was followed by conferences covering marine and river dune dynamics:
- MARID II in 2004 at the University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands
- MARID III in 2008 at the University of Leeds, United Kingdom
- MARID IV in 2013 at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Belgium
- MARID V in 2016 at Bangor University, North Wales, United Kingdom
- MARID VI in 2019 at MARUM, University of Bremen, Germany
- MARID VII in 2023 in Rennes, France
- MARID VIII in 2026 at the University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands
These conferences provide state-of-the-art overviews in fundamental and applied knowledge of marine and river dunes. The conference traditionally takes place over 3 days: 2 days are dedicated to plenary scientific sessions, including talks from keynote speakers and oral and poster presentations by delegates. A field excursion takes place on the third day to allow a convivial exchange between participants while discovering the geologically-interesting surroundings of the organising university.