ICMM is proud to partner with Lloyds Register Foundation (LRF) to bring to ICMM member organisations exciting funding opportunities to engage with a range of significant contemporary maritime challenges.

The ICMM Global Maritime Histories: Case Studies for Change Project (GMHP) was established in 2023, funded through a generous grant from LRF, and is managed by ICMM with LRF’s support.

Between 2024 and 2030, ICMM will fund selected projects in three consecutive two-year phases, led by ICMM member organisations or groups of organisations. (Please note that institutions based in the UK may only apply if part of a collaborative group, not in their own right.)

The vision for GMHP is to leverage the expertise and collections of maritime heritage institutions around the world to provide historical context for challenges currently facing maritime industries, build capacity in the global maritime heritage community, and support the local voice in a global context.

GMHP aims to:

  • Map maritime heritage organisations worldwide, especially in the Global South, and connect them under the ICMM ‘umbrella’.
  • Support research on maritime collections to develop case studies that ‘learn from the past’, which may help with solutions to contemporary maritime challenges.
  • Enable ICMM to speak with one voice on common themes (such as ocean literacy) that engage with global museum audiences.

Funding will be available for two types of projects:

  1. Historical or contemporary research. Themes of interest include maritime safety; resilience of maritime and coastal communities to climate change; historical maritime energy transitions that may support possible future sustainable maritime decarbonisation; potentially polluting wrecks.* 
  2. Maritime cultural heritage network development, including knowledge-sharing and capacity-building activities.

*More detail on research themes will be available in due course.

For both areas of activity, projects will ideally comprise an element of public engagement, through museum programmes such as public talks, displays, online activity (blogs, webpages), or other means. Applicants will be able to apply for funds for the engagement element of the project, as well as for costs associated with the research or networking elements.

Phase One

The pilot phase during 2024-2026 focused on a set of ‘prospect projects’ who applied for funding in November-December 2024. Phase 2 applications are currently in assessment.

Pilot Phase Projects

Phase Two – Call for Expressions of Interest has now closed

Phase Two applications for this multi-year programme (2026-2028), to be disbursed from June 2026, are currently in assessment. Total available grant funds for Phase Two are £200,000. Suggested grant allocations are £15,000 to £50,000 for any one approved project.

Eligibility

Applicants for funding must be from an existing ICMM member organisation, or group of organisations, or an aspiring ICMM member (i.e. – an emerging maritime heritage association). Joint submissions are encouraged with one or more ICMM organisations, and applicants may apply for more than one project, although each organisation is only eligible for one GMHP project grant per project phase. Please note that organisations based in the United Kingdom may only apply if part of a collaborative group, not in their own right.

Full project guidelines can be accessed here

Process
There will be a two-stage application process. At this stage, ICMM invites Expressions of Interest to Phase 2, with broad overviews of potential projects. These will be reviewed by ICMM’s GMHP steering committee in December and January. Applicants meeting the selection criteria, with projects that are deemed of interest, will be invited in early February to a second stage in which you will be asked to produce a more detailed application (due end of April 2026).

Deadline for Expression of Interest Submissions:
23.59 GMT – Sunday 30 November 2025 – Now closed
Please note that if you are invited to the second stage (following review of your Expression of Interest) the deadline for detailed applications will be 30 April 2026.

Global Maritime Histories Latest News

NEWS: Global Maritime Histories Project Phase 2 Funding Update (August 2025)
NEWS: ICMM attends LLoyd’s Register Foundation Stakeholder Day in London (March 2025)
NEWS: ICMM announce first four projects to benefit from new Global Maritime Histories Project Funding (February 2025)

More information: contact the Global Maritime Histories Project Manager Felicity Ferguson at: gmhp@icmm-maritime.org

For details of LRF see: https://www.lrfoundation.org.uk/