Commemorating the 50 years of completion of the first IIOE as well as the Golden Jubilee of establishment of India’s premier oceanographic institution, the National Institute of Oceanography (CSIR-NIO), Goa, an International Symposium on the Indian Ocean titled "Dynamics of the Indian Ocean; Perspective and Retrospective" was organised from the 30 November to 04 December 2015 at NIO, Goa. The Symposium, which was co-sponsored by CSIR-NIO, SCOR, and IOC, provided an ideal forum for over 500 scientists and young researchers from 30 countries to present the results of their studies on the Indian Ocean, review the progress that has been made over the past fifty years in understanding the unique characteristics of the region and to plan future research on many of the outstanding issues. The Technical Sessions covered a broad range of topics, ranging from the legacy of the First IIOE through the ocean-land-atmosphere interaction focusing on the monsoons, the unique geological and geophysical characteristics of the Indian Ocean to the extreme events of the region. Most appropriate for the occasion were the two Sessions dedicated to the future studies in the Indian Ocean from two different perspectives- the early Career Scientists, and the different National Agencies ("the stakeholders"). A final session on the future IIOE research served as a curtain raiser to the formal launch of IIOE-2.