Augustus Babajide Ajibola, Chairperson (Nigeria)

Augustus Babajide Ajibola  is deputy  Director and head of UNESCO Division in the Federal Ministry of Culture, Nigeria. He is actively involved in national policy making in Culture. He effectively and consistently represented Nigeria at various meetings of the 2001 Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage as well as other Conventions. He is in the forefront at ensuring the domestication of 2001 Convention along with others into Nigeria’s National Legislations. He has facilitated various capacity building initiatives including  UNESCO Unitwin program. He coordinated the first Regional Meeting on Underwater Cultural Heritage in Africa from 10^th  – 12^th November, 2013 in Yenegoa, Nigeria and participated at the 2^nd Regional Meeting that took place in Malindi,  Kenya from 24^th- 26^th  March,2015 as a Resource person. He has represented Group 5(a) since 2011 and was Vice Chairman of Scientific and Technical Advisory Body of this Convention twice in 2012 and 2014. During the 6th meeting of 30 April 2015, he was elected Chairperson of the Advisory Body.

Ovidio Juan Ortega Pereyra, Vice-chairperson (Cuba)

Ovidio Juan Ortega Pereyra graduated with a degree in art history (emphasis on archaeology) from Havana University, and obtained a PhD in archaeology in 1996.  Since 1982, he has worked as a scientific researcher at the Cuban Science Academy, where his main area of interest is the history of technology (mainly the construction of ships), as well as pre-Columbian and colonial period archaeology. Until 1999, he was deputy director of the Cuban Anthropological Institute. Pereyra is a member of the National Archaeological Committee, the National Union of Cuban Historians and the Group of Naval Historians of the Cuban Republic.  He is the author of multiple publications and scientific papers in the fields of archaeology and history. Since 2000, he has been the head of the Archaeological Department of the Direction of Underwater Studies of Maritime Services. During the 6th meeting of 30 April 2015 he was elected Vice-Chairperson of the Advisory Body.

Michel L'Hour, Rapporteur (France)

General curator for underwater archaeology, and Member of the Marine Academy, Michel L'Hour has been the Director of the Department of Underwater Archaeological Research (DRASSM) of the Ministry of Culture since 2006. He joined DASSM in 1982, where he was responsible for the western coasts of France, the overseas territories and international relations. He has directed numerous major underwater archaeological excavations both in France and abroad and specializes in the history of maritime trade from the late Middle Ages to the dawn of the modern era. L'hour is an regularly sought as an expert by many

international organisations such as UNESCO, and he is the author of numerous articles and books on the subject. He has also curated major exhibitions such as the Sea for Memory from 2005 to 2009, and The Mystery of Lapérouse, in the National Maritime Museum in 2008. He was the President of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Body of the UNESCO 2001 Convention for the protection of Underwater cultural Heritage 2014-2015. During the 6th meeting of 30 April 2015 he was elected Rapporteur of the Advisory Body.

Dolores Elkin (Argentina)

Dolores Elkin is an Argentinean archaeologist and a professional scientific diver who holds a research position at the National Research Agency (CONICET). She graduated with a Doctoral degree from the University of Buenos Aires in 1996, and since then has developed the first Underwater Archaeology Program in the country - based in the National Institute of Anthropology- involving mostly research and management projects. She has been a professor both at the University of Buenos Aires and the National University of the Central Province of Buenos Aires, contributing to the development of the speciality both at graduate and postgraduate levels. During the 3rd meeting of 19 April 2012 she was elected Chairperson of the Advisory Body.

María Helena Barba Meinecke (Mexico)

Helena Barba was born in México City in 1970. She graduated with a degree in Mexican Archeology from the National School of Anthropology and History in Mexico, and is a professional scientific diver with CEMAS. She was Chief of the Project Department in National Coordination of Archaeology in The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) from 1994 to 2001. She participated as chief in the field in several archaeological projects in the State of Campeche. At present she is the head of Underwater Archaeology in the Yucatan Peninsula and the Underwater Archeology Vicedirectorate, INAH, since 2003.

Barba has participated in national and international academic forums on Underwater Archaeology. She is also the author of scientific and popular articles in national and international publications, and has been the curator of many exhibitions related to Underwater Archaeology.

She is an Associate Member of the ACUA Board from the Historic Archaeology Society of the Mexican Association of Anthropologists and a representative of Mexico in the Meeting of States Parties to the 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. She has been a member of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee since May of this year.

Seyed Hossein Sadat Meidani (Islamic Republic of Iran)

Seyed Hossein Sadat Meidani (born in Mashhad, Iran) holds a PhD in Public International Law from Tehran University (2008). He has worked as a legal expert in the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1999 and has been posted at Iran’s Embassies in The Hague (the Netherlands) and Paris (France). With his expertise in the law of treaties and the law of international organizations, he has been member of Iranian delegations to several international conferences, including the Working Group on the Operational Guidelines of the 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage and also its Meetings of States Parties. Dr. Sadat is the author of numerous books and articles relating to international law, and has been a lecturer in international law at a host of Iranian universities. During the 4th Meeting on 30 May 2013 he was elected Vice-Chairperson of the Advisory Body.

Auron Tare (Albania)

Auron Tare is the Executive Director of The Albanian Center of Marine Research which is an ongoing underwater archaeology research in Albania. This Project is funded and supported by RPM Nautical Foundation 501© and Institute of Nautical Archaeology. He is one of the founders of Butrint National Park, a World Heritage Site of UNESCO and the First Director of the World Heritage Site of Butrint.
He has worked for many years in mobilizing interest and support among many international organizations and institutions like UNESCO, World Bank, Ramsar Convention, Butrint Foundation, Oak Foundation, Mifflin Trust, and other organizations to protect and preserve this unique historical site. His efforts were rewarded in 2000 when the Albanian Government along with UNESCO declared the park a protected World Heritage Site. He has been elected as member of Advisory body in April 2015.

Xavier Nieto Prieto (Spain)

Xavier Nieto Prieto was appointed director of the Spanish National Museum of Underwater Archaeology in Cartagena (ARQUA) in 2010, having directed the Centre d’Arqueologia Subacuàtica de Catalunya since 1992. He was previously appointed professor of underwater archaeology at Barcelona University, having worked in the archaeological research centre in Diputación de Girona. He holds a BA, MD and PhD in prehistory and ancient history, and has published extensively in the field of underwater archaeology. He has served as a member of the Group P.A.C.T. at the Council of Europe and is the Spanish representative at the ICOMOS/ICUCH. M. Prieto was elected as member of Advisory body during its 6th session in April 2015.

Constantin Chera (Romania)

Constantin Chera was born in 1950 in Bucharest, Romania. From 1969 to 1973 he studied history at the Babes Bolyai University in Sibiu, Romania. In 1975, he was accepted as an archaeologist by the National History and Archaeology Museum Constanta, where he is presently the Head of the Department of Archaeology. In 2001, he obtained the Dr. hab. title. He has represented Romania at international scientific meetings on underwater cultural heritage in Palermo, Napoli, Zadar, Istanbul, Rhodos and Paris. Constantin Chera is an underwater cultural heritage expert of the Romanian Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. He is the author of many publications in the field of archaeology, and scientific papers regarding underwater research, presented at international meetings. He is also an underwater archaeologist. 

Ouafa Ben Slimane (Tunisia)

Ouafa Ben Slimane is a Tunisian underwater archaeologist working at the Institut National du Patrimoine in Tunis. She holds a Ph.D in History and Civilizations of Antiquities at Université Paris IV Sorbonne, France as well as a Master’s in Pre-history, Archaeology, History and Civilizations ofىAntiquities and Classic Archaeology. She was Scientific coordinator at ARCHAEOMAP  as well as Collaborator on the STRABON Euro- Mediterranean Project.

Jasen Mesic (Croatia)

Currently State Secretary in the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, Jasen Mesić participated on behalf of his country’s delegation in the four expert meetings for the drafting of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001). He is an archaeologist of international and educational background, author and co-author of scientific publications in the field, director of numerous underwater archaeological projects, experienced professional archaeological diver and member of the ICOMOS International Committee on the Underwater Cultural Heritage (ICUCH). Jasen Mesić has been actively engaged in the protection of underwater cultural heritage in the Adriatic coast of Croatia since the 1990s. With his support, the International Centre for Underwater Archaeology was founded in Zagreb in 2007.

Vladas Zulkus (Lithuania)

Vladas Zulkus is currently the principal research fellow and professor at the Institute of Baltic Region History and Archaeology and the head of Underwater research center of Klaipėda University in Lithuania. He is also a member of the Lithuanian Archaeological Society (Chairman 2001-2002), a member of the European Association of Archaeologist, a head of the working group for underwater cultural heritage in Lithuania (Baltic Sea Region Cultural Heritage network), a full member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. He has considerable teaching experience in the fields of archaeology and underwater archaeology. Vladas Zulkus has headed many expeditions in medieval archaeology, underwater and maritime archaeology. He has published many books and articles in the field of underwater archaeology in Lithuanian, Russian, English, and German. He also participated as a partner and lead partner in international and national research projects.