The International Nautical Archaeology Foundation

Charitable Incorporated Organisation  No. 1210349

The International Nautical Archaeology Foundation (INAF) was created in 2024 to advance the education of the public in the subject of nautical archaeology and to promote research for the public benefit in all aspects of the subject and to publish the useful results.

INAF has been created to facilitate the development of a grant giving programme with funds generated from an amazing $1million donation from the Edward & Saryl Von der Porten Trust, in the USA. 

INAF has been registered as a charity with the Charity Commission (No.1210349) and is being administered by the NAS, acting as a Corporate Trustee, with representatives of the donor family in the USA acting as Members of INAF.

The inaugural INAF grant programme opened on the 1st January 2026 and closed on 28th February 2026.

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2026 International Nautical Archaeology Foundation Awards

The first recipients of grants from the International Nautical Archaeology Foundation (INAF) have been announced, following the launch of its inaugural grant programme on 1 January 2026.

From a strong and diverse pool of applications, eight have been granted to support a broad range of nautical archaeological projects worldwide. These initiatives share a common objective: to advance public understanding of nautical archaeology and to promote research for the public benefit across all aspects of the discipline.

Mark Beattie-Edwards, CEO of the Nautical Archaeology Society, which administers the INAF, commented: “We were extremely encouraged by both the volume and the calibre of applications received for this first round of INAF grants. The breadth of projects, spanning underwater, intertidal, and terrestrial investigations, demonstrates the vibrancy and global reach of nautical archaeology today. The strength of the submissions made the selection process highly competitive, but also reaffirmed the depth of expertise and passion within the field. We are proud to support projects that will not only expand knowledge but also ensure that this knowledge is shared meaningfully with wider audiences.”

 

2026 Grant Recipients 

 

Gary Bankhead, Vedra Hylton Community Association, Honorary Fellow, Department of Archaeology, Durham University

Roman Offerton: Sunderland’s Earliest Industry - UK

  

Leah Tavasi, PhD candidate, University of Oxford, School of Archaeology

The Contribution of Marine Cultural Heritage to Ecological Connectivity: Habitats, Baselines, and Environmental Indicators in the Falkland Islands - Falkland Islands

 

Dr Azzedine Karra, Director, National Center for Studies and Research on Underwater Heritage, Rabat, Morocco; and

Dr Athena Trakadas, External Associate Professor in Classical and Maritime Archaeology, Saxo Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Co-Chair, Ocean Decade Heritage Network.

The Essaouira Beach shipwreck – Morocco

 

Professor Irena Radić Rossi, Department of Archaeology, University of Zadar, Croatia Institute for Maritime Heritage ARS NAUTICA, and Dr Lisa Briggs

Korčula Island Shipwreck Survey – Croatia

 

Cristina Laurenti, DPhil student associated with the University of Oxford, School of Archaeology

Bàtos. Ferries and shipyards in Pisa San Rossore. Ship I: a riverine ferry – Italy

 

Sasha Joura, Member Australasian Institute of Maritime Archaeology and member New Zealand Archaeological Association

At the Ocean’s Edge: Maritime archaeology on the remote northern coast of Stewart Island/Rakiura - New Zealand

 

Christopher Dostal and Carolyn Kennedy, Texas A&M University and Institute of Nautical Archaeology

Philadelphia Gunboat Research Initiative – USA

 

Dr. Max Fiederling, University of Trier & TRANSMARE Research Institute

Tides of Trade: The Urban and Maritime Morphology of Sullecthum — An Ancient North African City at the Intersection of East and West – Tunisia

 

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About Edward & Saryl Von der Porten

Edward and Saryl Von der Porten, were very involved in a number of nautical archaeology projects, some in major ways and some in much smaller ways.  Bigger projects included the work on Francis Drake’s landing in California in 1579, building the museum element on the S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien. and the San Juanillo in Baja California, Mexico.  Smaller involvements included a summer working on the Mary Rose.

The funding difficulties they encountered included last minute needs to ensure a towable side-scan sonar fish and to rent an extra panga skiff to get to the Mexico site. They often wished there was a fund to which they could make a quick application and get a draw.  One of the aims of INAF is to be able to help with those types of expenses in addition to well-in-advance requests for research projects.  

Read more about Edward and Saryl Von der Porten below                                                                 

Edward Von der Porten obituary here and San Francisco Chronicle article here

Saryl Von der Porten obituary here

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INAF Grant Board

The grant decision-making for the International Nautical Archaeology Foundation is to be done by a Grant Board consisting of six representatives from key nautical archaeology organisations around the world (“Board Members”).  Currently these six organisations are:

• East Carolina University, Department of History, Program in Maritime Studies, Greenville, North Carolina, USA
• Institute of Nautical Archaeology, College Station, Texas, USA
• Nautical Archaeology Society, Portsmouth, UK
• Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology, Adelaide, SA, Australia
• Flinders University, SA, Australia
• Vasa Museum, Stockholm, Sweden

A member of the Von der Porten family also sits on the Grant Board. Board Members will individually recuse themselves from evaluating projects with which their individual organisations have a material connection. The Corporate Trustee will not be eligible to apply to the Fund.

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Grant Purposes and Guidelines

INAF will support nautical archaeological endeavours, broadly defined to include underwater, intertidal, and terrestrial archaeological work on nautical subjects, including, but not limited to, shipwrecks, cargos, fishing, harbours, & shipbuilding sites.

Projects should have reasonable prospects for making significant contributions to knowledge of nautical archaeological matters, broadly defined.  The applicability of the knowledge that is likely to be gained to wide audiences should be a major consideration in the selection process.  Narrow projects with only small specialised audiences do not fit within the purview of the Fund.

In addition to archaeology fieldwork, laboratory work, creating illustrations, work on publications, printing costs, etc., which are follow-ups to fieldwork investigations, are included in this definition.  The Fund encourages means of bringing knowledge of the results of nautical archaeology to a wide public in the form of publications in various media.

Carefully planned small projects with potential for development will be considered for funding.  Proven success will not be a requirement for funding.

Projects that are primarily educational, such as fieldschools, lecture series, and public events, do not fit within the purview of the International Nautical Archaeology Fund. Funds shall not be granted for creating, managing or attending conferences, travel outside specific needs of a project, and similar non-research purposes.

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Our Approach to Publication

Undertaking research by itself is not a charitable purpose and confers little or no benefit to the public. To achieve such benefits the results of the research must be disseminated in a publicly accessible format, thus adding to the collective knowledge and understanding of humanity’s past in a nautical context.

Dissemination of the results of research in a publicly accessible format is therefore an integral component of any nautical archaeology project, as recognised by Rules 30 -36 of the Annex to the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural heritage 2001. As such, the INAF regards such dissemination to be an essential component of any proposal for award of a grant from the INAF.

The INAF will require as a condition of any grant awarded, the publication of the results of any research undertaken from funding provided. Such publication may be proportional to the funded research undertaken and may make take the form of, but not necessarily be limited to:

• Publication on the INAF’s website or other Internet media outlet
• Publication in popular literature, such as magazines and news periodicals
• Publication in peer reviewed academic journals
• Publication in monographs or books
• Publication as documentary film or television program

It may be the case that two or more forms of publication may be intended to be undertaken in respect of research funded by the INAF. If so, applicants should expressly identify this in the application. Wherever possible, applicants may wish to identify the intention to provide a readily comprehensible form of publication for the general public as well as a more technical format for a specialised audience.

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Application Eligibility

Applications will only be considered from:

• Not for Profits, Registered Charities (including CIOs), Non-Government Organisations, Archaeological Groups or Societies

• Individual researchers affiliated with a University

• Individual researchers and members of a Non-Government Organisation or Archaeological Group or Society

• University students studying nautical archaeology or related subjects at undergraduate level or above.

Applications will not be considered from:

• Not for Profits and Charities that do not have one year of registered accounts

• Commercial (For-Profit) Businesses 

• Political parties

• Persons or organisations engaged, or proposing to engage in the commercial exploitation of cultural heritage contrary to the provisions Article 2 of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage 2001, and Rule 2 of the Annex thereto.

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2027 Application Timetable and Financials

The minimum grant size is £500. Awards of more than £20,000 will be rare.

2027 applications to the International Nautical Archaeology Foundation opened on the 1st January 2027 and close on the 28th February 2027.

Any unused funds shall be returned within two years of the award. If a grant is being used for a project lasting longer than two years, applicants will be advised on returning any unused funds. 

The financial and administrative overhead rates for grants shall not exceed 10% of the grant applied for. For example, a £1,000 grant may not have more than £100 allocated to overhead. Any overhead amounts must be disclosed in the grant application and in any financial reports.

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Please direct any enquiries and send applications to [email protected] 

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Donate to International Nautical Archaeology Foundation

The International Nautical Archaeology Foundation is an open fund, happy to accept further donations to help support nautical archaeology research and fieldwork. If you would like to talk to someone about donating a legacy to the field of nautical archaeology please feel free to contact the NAS CEO, Mark Beattie-Edwards by email on [email protected]