Ivar Treffner, Estonian Maritime Museum
Ivar is a maritime archaeology researcher in Estonian Maritime Museum. He’s also an experienced technical rebreather diver with over 20 years of underwater experience. His two main research interest are 16th -18th century merchant vessels and potentially polluting wrecks. He’s conducted many environmental assessments of PPW in Estonian waters and also abroad.
Dr Christopher J. Underwood PhD, MA, BEd, FNAS, ICOMOS
Chris has a doctorate from the University of Southern Denmark, Master’s Degree (maritime archaeology), from the University of Southampton and a first degree from the University Portsmouth (educational studies), both UK. He also has professional and recreational diving qualifications. Chris is an honorary researcher with Argentina’s Programa de Arqueología Subacuática, within the Instituto Nacional de Antropología, Argentina and an associate researcher of the Instituto de Diversidad y Evolución Austral (IDEAus)-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET) also focused on underwater cultural heritage research. His professional experience in underwater archaeology and cultural heritage extends from his participation in the excavation and recovery of Henry VIII’s Mary Rose followed by projects in the UK, Atlantic (north & south), Baltic, Mediterranean, Caribbean, South Pacific, Gulf of Thailand, East China Sea, and the Indian Ocean. He is a UNESCO trainer/contractor delivering professional capacity building programs in Latin America, Caribbean and Asia.
Dr. Elena Perez-Alvaro, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellow
Elena Perez-Alvaro Ph.D. is a Marie Curie Global Fellow at the University of Guam, the University of Hawaii, and the Universidad Pompeu Fabra. She is an Expert Member of the ICOMOS International Committee on the Underwater Cultural Heritage and chairs the Underwater Heritage Working Group of UK Blue Shield.
Dr. James Delgado, SEARCH Inc
James P. Delgado, Ph.D. is a maritime archaeologist who primarily focuses on 19th and 20th century vessels, including warships. During his tenure as Director of Maritime Heritage for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, he was one of the lead scientists working on NOAA’s national PPW assessment.
Maja Pace Sausmekat, Heritage Malta
Prof Timmy Gambin, Heritage Malta
Besides being a Professor of maritime archaeology at the University of Malta Timmy considers himself lucky to combine his passion for WWII history with archaeology – especially in the growing field of aviation archaeology underwater. With well over 50 aircraft and ships discovered around Malta and explored so far, submerged WWII sites are fast becoming an integral part of his work. Currently, my major project is the excavation of the Phoenician Shipwreck off the island of Gozo – datable to 700BC – it is currently the oldest known shipwreck in the central Mediterranean. He is also fortunate to collaborate with experts on projects around the Mediterranean and beyond.
As part of Heritage Malta’s Underwater Cultural Heritage Unit, Timmy contributes to a new strategy and approach to the management of UCH. This is based on the notion of a web whereby everything on a shipwreck – both visible and not – is connected.
Jason Bennet, ABL
Jason is an experienced Master Mariner combining 14 years at sea with leading positions in the international salvage and wreck removal sectors, with marine surveying and consultancy services. Jason’s seagoing experience was gained on a variety of ships, including naval logistics support, and he has applied his seagoing expertise to shore based positions serving ship owners and the insurance markets. Jason has been involved in several of the most notable casualties including MSC Napoli and MV Costa Concordia. With ABL Jason is involved in wreck removal organisation and emergency response support as well as risk assessment on behalf of Governmental and national energy bodies. His role in the MoD project has been to assess the probable status of wrecks and their contents, assessing their physical characteristics, and potentially polluting materials.
Lauren Tidbury, Maritime Archaeology Ltd
Lauren is an experienced maritime archaeologist with 15 years experience in both the UK and overseas. She has worked on a variety of research projects as well as underwater and intertidal fieldwork on both shipwrecks and submerged landscapes. Lauren is a member of the MA Dive Team and has undertaken underwater survey and excavation on various site types. She also has experience in working with maritime archaeological and historical archives, as well as recent projects looking at the history of the discipline and women in maritime. Lauren has experience in desk-based research, and her role in the MoD project has been to coordinate the Historic Desk Based Assessments of over 450 wrecks. This includes archival research to better understand the ship’s construction, how it sank and what it was carrying at the time of loss.
Harriet Rushton, UK MoD SALMO
Harriet is the Wreck Environmental Manager at DE&S SALMO (UK MOD). She is a marine biologist by trade, who has spent the majority of her career undertaking environmental impact assessments for the UK MOD, in the maritime domain. She has been in the SALMO Wrecks team for 8 months and brings marine environmental protection expertise to the team. The SALMO Wrecks team assess, monitor and remediate pollution on MOD-owned wrecks around the world.
Julie Satchell, Maritime Archaeology Trust
Julie Satchell is Head of Research for the Maritime Archaeology Trust. She has been leading maritime archaeological research, investigation, management and publication projects for over twenty-five years. Through a range of shipwreck focused projects, including the four-year Forgotten Wrecks of the First World War project, she has developed research and assessment of 18th, 19th and early 20th Century ships. Julie has a track record of championing access to maritime archaeology for a wide range of audiences through traditional and innovative digital approaches, in addition to advocating for improved management and use of maritime archaeological archives.
Giles Richardson, Maritime Archaeology Sea Trust
Giles Richardson is Senior Archaeologist at MAST and analyst for the Maritime Observatory, a partnership between MAST and OceanMind.
Juha Flinkman, Badewanne Reseach Team
During my career as scientist, I’ve worked in research of ecology and status of pelagic food webs, fish and zooplankton populations. Last 15 years I have worked as the manager of Finnish research vessel Aranda. Besides my scientific work, I’m also a non-fiction author, mostly on topics of maritime history, marine biology and environment. I’ve had a lifelong relationship with both occupational and recreational diving, having worked as Diving officer for University of Helsinki, and scientific diving coordinator in Finnish Institute of Marine Research (FIMR) and Suomen Ympäristökeskus, Finnish Environment Center (SYKE). My diving interests have always been focused on wrecks. I was was among the first Nordic divers entering the realm of technical diving. Me and my dive team Badewanne www.badewanne.fi have undertaken research primarily of 1st and 2nd World War wrecks Gulf of Finland. This research is mostly historic, but increasingly concerning environmental problems associated with legacy wrecks. We have published several tv documentaries, articles and books on these topics. Besides managing research vessel Aranda, I am also involved in pre salvage work on Potentially Polluting Wrecks (PPW) at SYKE.
Jouni Polkko, Badewanne Reseach Team
Charlotte Jarvis, The Ocean Foundation
Charlotte Jarvis is a maritime archaeologist and historian with degrees from Texas A&M and Durham University. She works with The Ocean Foundation as an underwater cultural heritage consultant highlighting how underwater cultural heritage and natural heritage are connected and must be preserved. Her previous work has focused on marine climate change, with an interest in early modern sailors’ beliefs and how we can use history to inform environmental policies and concentrated her university coursework on marine policy and coastal resiliency planning. She currently holds a research position at Het Scheepvaartmuseum (National Maritime Museum) in Amsterdam. Here, she worked on studying Dutch sailors’ alcohol consumption and how it impacted their reputations. This resulted in a number of peer-reviewed publications, presentations, and an exhibition in the museum. She is now researching Dutch wooden shipbuilding and underwater archaeology, with an active role in a number of upcoming exhibitions, book chapters, and further presentations.
Brandon Mason, Maritime Archaeology Ltd
Chris Cox, ABL
Chris is a Maritime Data Analyst at ABL Group with over 16 years of experience in developing software and databases for the analysis of marine data, GIS mapping and navigational simulation. He graduated from the University of Southampton in the UK with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Software Engineering and applications of his work include incident investigation and reconstructions, vessel safety and performance monitoring and emissions tracking. His role on the MoD project involves the development of a geodatabase in the ArcGIS environment for the storage and mapping of potentially polluting wrecks.
Mathew Skelhorn, UK MoD SALMO
Matt is the Wreck Manager in the Salvage and Marine Operations (SALMO) team at the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD). He runs the Wreck Management Programme which addresses the environmental and safety concerns associated with the oil and ammunition remaining on MOD owned shipwrecks. He has worked on numerous projects including monitoring the WWII battleship HMS Royal Oak, the removal of oil from the wreck of the tanker RFA Darkdale off St Helena and a survey of the wrecks of HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse in SE Asia.
Claire Hallybone, Nautical Archaeology Society
Peta Knott, Nautical Archaeological Society
Peta is a maritime archaeologist who runs the internationally accredited Education Programme for the Nautical Archaeology Society. She develops the diverse curriculum and also delivers some of the training courses. Peta has collaborated with the UK Ministry of Defence for many years, both researching potentially polluting wrecks and developing citizen science training schemes to monitor this challenging aspect of our historic environment.
Minna Koivikko, Finnish National Heritage Agency
Minna Koivikko, PhD, works for the Finnish Heritage Agency as a project leader in the international research programme The Lost Navy, Sweden’s ”Blue” Heritage c. 1450–1850. In Finland, Koivikko leads the research project The End of Glory Days, Biography of the Swedish wrecks as “Blue” Heritage of Suomenlinna, which focuses on the Suomenlinna fortress and the wooden shipwrecks of its underwater cultural landscape. This project is a continuation for her PhD dissertation Recycling Ships, which was approved with honours 2017 at Helsinki University. Koivikko is a certificated research diver (AESD, Advanced European Scientific Diver), and currently practices rebreather diving. Her special interest are human behaviour in a maritime context, recycling and climate change, and the improvement of interpretations of unidentified wooden skeleton wrecks.
Edd Stockdale, Finnish Scientific Diving Academy
Edd Stockdale has for over a decade worked in dive safety and logistics management for remote research expeditions, specialising in advanced diving operations, especially in the area of deeper projects using rebreathers. In recent years this expertise has seen him running global scale projects, such as Ocean Census, collaborating with research institutions in applying these techniques and developing training programs in scientific diving fields, in his role as co-ordinator of the Finnish Scientific Diving Academy at the University of Helsinki.
Maili Roio, Estonian National Heritage Board
Maili is a maritime archaeologist. She holds a master’s degree in the protection of underwater cultural heritage. Since 2004, she has been working at the Estonian National Heritage Board as an advisor for underwater archaeology.
Since 2022, she is the Chairperson of the Baltic Sea Region Working Group on Underwater Cultural Heritage and since 2024 a Chair of the Baltic Region Heritage Committe. She has led numerous archaeological studies (including underwater) both in Estonia and abroad, as well as international projects.
Since 2023, she is an expert of the UNESCO Scientific and Technical Advisory Body (STAB) of the 2001 Convention.
Kaido Peremees, Tuukritööd OÜ