Director, Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology, University of Oxford.

He has research interests both underwater and on land. Underwater, Damian works with the European Institute for Underwater Archaeology on the excavation, research and publication of the sunken cities of the Canopic Coast of Egypt, where he leads an Oxford team in the excavation of a sunken ship.

On land, Damian formerly co-directed a decade-long excavation of an entire city block in Pompeii, Insula VI.i, which was aimed at understanding what processes drove the development of the buildings destroyed in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

He is currently part of the team writing up and publishing these excavations.