The UNESCO chair on the ocean’s cultural heritage: a brief note on oceanic history, science and literacy

The UNESCO Chair “Ocean’s Cultural Heritage” held by NOVA University (Lisbon, Portugal) since 2016 is unique worldwide and brings to the spotlight the importance of obtaining knowledge on and of the management of tangible and intangible cultural and natural heritage of the open oceans, underwater realm
and coastlines. Supported on a transatlantic network of researchers and their respective scientific and educational activities, topics under the umbrella of the early modern history of oceans such as underwater archaeology, maritime cultural landscapes, marine environmental history, cultures and societies, environments and resources management, are to be addressed and developed. These themes are part of the current international agendas for science, development and cooperation, and the UNESCO Chairs programme offers
the adequate framework for the establishment of networking, for new common and integrated projects. This Chair also enhances the UNESCO principles of
knowledge sharing, social solidarity, and establishing the basis for the development of good practices. As such, social sciences and humanities can contribute to inform on multiple societal challenges such as the changing
conditions of marine ecosystems, climate change, heritage preservation and, also, ocean literacy. Here we are presenting the insights and motivations to develop such a UNESCO Chair and a related networking European project, both including components of research, education and outreach. Not aiming at
presenting research or a global review, we intend to present main goals of the UNESCO Chair “Ocean’s Cultural Heritage” and to highlight how different disciplines can contribute to the construction of knowledge and preservation of memory about the Atlantic since early modern times.