Ania first caught the bug for the submarine world and learned about the exciting career of underwater archaeology when, as a child, she marveled for hours at photographs of submerged Alexandria, Egypt. With this thought in mind, immediately after starting her archaeology undergraduate degree at Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland, she began her training and diving career with ‘AKP Krab’ Diving Club. Over the past decade Ania has fulfilled her dream, having undertaken fieldwork as a professional underwater archaeologist on many underwater expeditions in Turkey, Montenegro, Ukraine, and on the site of her childhood dreams, the submerged city of Alexandria. In this time she has also worked on archaeological sites on land in over 20 countries including: India, Kenya, Tanzania and Zanzibar, Lesotho, Sudan, Egypt, Syria, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Belgium, Ukraine, and on numerous sites in Poland and the U.K. Ania is finishing her Ph.D. at the Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology (OCMA), University of Oxford. The broad geographic scope of her study area takes her around the Indian Ocean rim (including the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf), where she studies proto-globalization, ancient maritime exchange routes and ancient ports of trade. Her research focuses on understanding parameters of attractiveness of port locations – a field of research that Cecelia Connelly pioneered with her work in Cesarea Maritima. The Cecelia Connelly Memorial Scholarship in Underwater Archaeology allowed Ania, in conjunction with the Sealinks Project, to take part in coastal and maritime archaeological research on three islands situated off the Tanzanian Coast (Juani, Pemba and Unguja Islands). This multidisciplinary work helped her to better understand the mechanisms behind functioning of small, subordinate to natural conditions trading outposts and emporiums, so different in shape from Mediterranean ports such as Cesarea Maritima and so similar in form and role. “The Cecelia Connelly Memorial Scholarship has given me the opportunity of international collaboration and inter-disciplinary scholarship along with European, Australian, American and East African colleagues. The individuals that I have met during this project have not only given me tremendous support and led me to develop my research ideas, leading to a more refined Ph.D., but also, ultimately, turned into what I believe to be life-long friends as well as important professional connections. I am confident that the experiences and learning opportunities which I would not be able to acquire without the support from the Connelly family and Women Divers Hall of Fame were invaluable and set up a path for my future career and academic development.”