Over the last decade, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has rapidly become commonplace in critical care medicine, with veno-venous ECMO (VV ECMO) and veno-arterial ECMO (VA ECMO) representing the most common supportive therapies for rescuing patients with refractory respiratory failure and refractory cardiac failure, respectively. While the growth in the utilisation of ECMO has been associated with improvements in patient outcomes, advances in both translational and clinical research are required to improve the standard of care for patients on ECMO. In particular, research in this field may focus upon advances in devices and methods for ECMO, ECMO-related adverse events and complications, and management and outcomes of patients on ECMO.