Roz, a long-time X-Ray Mag contributor and good friend, is one of this year’s inductees into the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame, alongside Simone Melchior-Cousteau, Michelle Cove, Anne Hasson and Hidy Yu Hiu-Tung.
Rosemary Lunn, known to most as 'Roz' (Photo: Courtesy of Rosemary Lunn)
I am chuffed to bits that Roz has finally received the recognition she truly deserves for her many years of dedicated service to the dive industry. Now lost in the fog of history, the day we first met was at some dive industry function; I believe it was a dive show in the United Kingdom around the turn of the new millennium. Roz has had such a long and storied career in the industry and, despite our long acquaintance, I don’t know the half of it. In those early days, she introduced herself as a dive industry fixer, and that is exactly what she was, and to some degree still is, despite moving on to a full-time position with the Ministry of Defence, which now keeps her fully occupied and then some.
“Fixing” meant connecting people and projects, networking, enabling projects and facilitating the well-being of the dive industry. As for concrete projects, she is primarily known as the co-founder and organiser of the EuroTek conferences, which were held in England before the pandemic. She was also instrumental in setting up Rebreather Forum 3 and several other events. She served on the board of the Scuba Industries Trade Association (SITA) in the United Kingdom and the British Diving Safety Group (BDSG). The list goes on and on.
Shark ecologist and behaviourist Cristina Zenato called her a catalyst, a creator and a passionate advocate for the dive industry, and I could not agree more. Drew Richardson of PADI stated that “Roz works tirelessly to bring the diving community together with the spirit and intention of growing technical diving” and described her as a productive professional communicator.
Jim Standing, director of Fourth Element, wrote that Roz has been a force for the development of our sport, from disseminating information to divers as a journalist to keeping the UK dive industry informed about developments at a legislative level and practical aspects of running a business.
Sabine Kerkau, another of our contributors and a leading technical diver, stated: “I believe Rosemary is a great ambassador for our sport, and she empowers other female divers through her work and her personality. She is always willing to encourage and speak about her passion, encouraging the next generation to go further into tech diving or journalism.” The accolades are yet another list that goes on and on.
To all of this, I can only nod approvingly and add that it has always been a pleasure to work with Roz. I am eternally grateful, both for all the many contributions she has made to the magazine and website over the years, the assistance she has provided, and for the enduring warm personal friendship we have enjoyed, and still do.
More details about the International Scuba Diving Hall of Fame 2025 inductees can be read in the press release, which is also posted on the website.
