In 2021, Lydia Woolley a student at the University of Southampton was awarded an MSDS Marine student grant award. In this blog Lydia reviews how the award has helped her over the last year.
I was so thrilled to be awarded the MSDS Student Grant Award in 2021. I applied for the award when I had started my masters degree in Maritime Archaeology at the University of Southampton. I was very excited to start my masters but I was concerned I wouldn’t be able to join in on the diving side of things as I’d saved for a few years for my masters and thought the diving would be one expense too far! Therefore I am so grateful that MSDS want to support emerging maritime archaeologists in this way, I certainly wouldn’t have been able to benefit fully from my studies without their support.
One of the first things I used the grant for was to buy a new mask, in my limited diving experience so far I had always really struggled with visibility and irritation with my eyes. Getting help with the right mask and fitting it, then using it on my first dive was revolutionary!
I had previously obtained my Advanced Open Water PADI qualification, but it had been over five years since my last dive. So, the first bit of training I got was a refresher; very useful to get my diving skills back on track. As part of my university course, we had diving training specific to maritime archaeology skills, for this however we needed Dry Suit Training and to use a dry suit. With money from the grant I was able to undertake this training, which was really great to build further on my diving experience, learn a new skill and therefore be able to join in on further training as part of the course available to me. A particularly useful qualification for future dives locally as well, diving in the chilly waters of the UK!
The next step in my diving training was to become a Rescue Diver, however, sadly a round of COVID got in the way of this one. I look forward to getting this completed in Spring next year however.
This grant allowed me access to opportunities within my field I wouldn’t have otherwise had the opportunity to participate in. In my training, as well as gaining new skills, I was able to meet and talk with dive schools and members of the diving community which I found really invaluable. A lot of my research this last year has been on the role community and wellbeing plays in maritime cultural heritage and maritime archaeology, particularly in response to the Climate Emergency, so to be able to be a part of a dive community and to meet maritime archaeology experts such as MSDS and be supported by them, was a welcoming and wonderful aspect in my development as a maritime archaeologist. Thank you!
