Maritime and underwater cultural heritage (M&UCH) holds unrealised potential for cross-disciplinary ocean science research and public engagement to contribute to the UN Decade challenges. SoMUCH brings together the NGOs accredited to the UNESCO 2001 Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage and associated organisations to maximise the potential for the recording, study, and monitoring of M&UCH and the promotion of these results for their application to environmental studies, monitoring ocean health, ocean literacy and education.

A common methodology will be developed by bringing together the results of projects delivered and future projects by the NGOs in an open-source database, and through engaging with a large network of specialists and non-specialists from around the globe to collect data. The results will be promoted for the development of inter-disciplinary studies related to Ocean Decade challenges, integrated into educational resources and for public dissemination.

The Maritime Archaeology Trust has received a grant from Lloyd’s Register Foundation to support the development phase of the project, enhancing the network and building a detailed project delivery plan.