Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology

6th Sort-of-Annual Noble Duck Race Winners

The results are in! Check out all the action at the Holiday Inn Resort, Pensacola. **Ready, set, race!**

The results are in for the 2025 Duck Race! The winners are: 1st place – Bill Utley, 2nd Place – Scott Strimling, 3rd place – James Smailes. Thank you everyone for joining in on all the fun!

Photo & Video Contest Voting Results are In!

We thank all of the SHA members who participated in the NOLA 2025 Photo & Video Contest. We had 44 amazing photo entries and 3 great videos! Scroll down to see them all! The results are in, visit the Photo Contest 2025 page and enjoy. All of the photo contest fees go to support student attendance at the annual SHA Conference on Historical and Underwater Archaeology. Thank you for participating!

ACUA Proceedings 2025:
Early Registration for Authors Now Open

Did you present a paper at the 2025 SHA Conference on Historical and Underwater Archaeology on a topic relating to underwater/maritime archaeology? If so, we would like to remind you that your paper could also be published in the 2025 ACUA Underwater Archaeology Proceedings. Submissions from students and early-career professionals are especially encouraged, but anyone who presented on a relevant topic is welcome! Details below are for early registration of intent to submit a paper. Additional reminders will be sent out before the deadline below, but you are encouraged to reply as soon as possible to be included.

Online registration will open soon shortly, but you can decide now to register your intent to submit by contacting the Editorial Team at this email address: proceedings@acuaonline.org. In your email, please include the following details.

Name of the lead author (first and last name)
Lead author email address
Lead author phone number
Article Title
Session Title
Complete abstract attached to email as a Word file

Author Online Registration Deadline: February 28, 2025
Author Manuscript Submission Deadline: March 21, 2025

2025 ACUA Student Travel Awards – Congratulations

ACUA & RECON Offshore Student Travel Award

Dorian Lee Record is the winner of the 2025 ACUA & RECON Offshore Student Travel Award for the New Orleans, Louisiana conference. Learn more about this award and meet Dorian.

Dorian Record receiving ACUA & RECON Offshore Award. Jennifer McKinnon, chair ACUA (left), Dorian (center), Michael Krivor, Recon Offshore (right).

Both awards are part of the ACUA’s efforts to expand opportunities for students.

Each fall, the ACUA announces a call for applications for two student travel awards to attend the SHA Conference on Historical and Underwater Archaeology. The George R. Fischer International Student Travel award is offered in remembrance of the late George R. Fischer. We congratulate this year’s winners and thank the Fischer family for their support of this award and for allowing the ACUA to continue to remember George at each award with a small urn holding his ashes. The ACUA & RECON Offshore Student Travel Award is open to all qualified students. Requirements and information on applications can be found on the ACUA Awards page.

George R. Fischer International Student Travel Award

Alyssa Pietraszek from the University of Haifa and Alexandra Tyas from the University of Iceland are the winners of the 2025 George R. Fischer International Student Travel award for the New Orleans, Louisiana conference. Learn more about this award and meet Alexandra and Alyssa.

Alexandra Tyas receiving the George Fischer international student travel award. Alexandra (right), Jennifer McKinnon, chair ACUA (right).

Fall 2024 ACUA Student Newsletter

The latest issue of the ACUA Student newsletter, produced by the ACUA Graduate Student Associate members, is now available. It features articles on current student research in Lagos, Portugal, assessing intangible UCH, and Wisconsin’s rich maritime heritage. Download the latest copy and sign up to submit your research. This issue is the 31st since the inception of the newsletter in Spring 2013. There is a 14 year archive of past newsletters you can enjoy. Contribute your research article now!

2024 ACUA Proceedings Available

The 2024 Underwater Archaeology Proceedings, edited by Bert Ho and Della Scott-Ireton is now available for sale. Visit the ACUA Storefront and get your hard copy or ePub.

Recent Deep Thoughts

Coastal Site Protection: The Peril and Power of Social Media

Amy Borgens highlights the dangers of coastal erosion exposing shipwreck sites and the promise and perils of social media in bringing attention to their preservation.

Underwater Cultural Heritage of Ireland – a Shared Heritage

Ireland’s shared UCH spans centuries including the ill-fated Spanish Armada of 1588 up to WWII. Connie Kelleher provides a glimpse into that heritage and its preservation.

Core Principles

Ethics, respect, diversity and equity are the core principles around which we should all strive to lead our professional and personal lives. The ACUA strongly encourages all professional organizations to promote ethical principles, non-discrimination, anti-harassment, and anti-racist policies among their memberships.

Vision Statement

The ACUA serves as an international advisory body on issues relating to underwater archaeology, conservation, and submerged cultural resources management. It is working to educate scholars, governments, sport divers, and the general public about underwater archaeology and the preservation of underwater resources.