María Dolores Higueras studies music (1961–1964) and History, specializing in the History of the Americas at the University of Madrid, graduating in 1969. In 1970 she obtains the title of first-class diver. In 1969 she becomes an assistant professor in the chair of “History of Geographical Discoveries” at the University of Madrid, later, through competitive examination, becoming Professor of Art and Cultural History at the Escuela Superior de Canto of Madrid (1970–1996). Also through competitive examination she serves as Head of Research (1970–1996) at the Naval Museum of Madrid, belonging to the Ministry of Defense. In this context, in May 1992 she is appointed Head of the Conservation, Research and Exhibition Area of the same museum, taking charge of managing and supervising all exhibitions organized by the Naval Museum (1992–2005). In this institution, in January 2000 she is offered the position of Technical Director.

She has given a large number of lectures and taught courses on underwater archaeology, including those taught in the Aulas del Mar of the University of Murcia between 1985 and 1993. In 1987 she is a professor both in the first seminar on Underwater Archaeology organized by the Ministry of Culture in San Pedro del Pinatar, Murcia, in 1987, and in the first course on the same subject at the Autonomous University of Madrid. She is the author of a large number of publications.

Among the many honours she has obtained, we cite some that are more closely related to archaeology in general and to underwater archaeology in particular: member of the National Board of Underwater Archaeology (1977–1981) and “Honorary Diver” of the Navy Diving Centre (1980). Honorary member of the International Institute of Ligurian Studies of Archaeology (1981). In another field, her dedication to the Spanish Geographical Society (SGE) stands out: since 2013 she has been a member of the Editorial Board of its bulletin, and from December 2015 a member of the Governing Board of this society on the one hand, and on the other Vice-President and member of its Executive Committee (2019–2022). Finally, we highlight her role since February 2020 as a Member of the Advisory Council of the Elcano International Chair.

She is the author of more than 80 publications, including books, articles and reports on maritime history, underwater archaeology and naval museology, with notable works on navigation, shipwrecks, Magellan’s circumnavigation and the Malaspina Expedition. She contributed to the documentation of more than 2,000 historic Spanish shipwrecks, consolidating underwater archaeology as a scientific and cultural discipline. In this line it is worth highlighting her book El despertar del olvido, a work in which the author brings historical knowledge into dialogue with a clear ethical vocation to recover silenced voices.

She coordinated the monumental publication of nine volumes of Fuentes de la Expedición de Malaspina y Bustamante (1789–1794) and directed the “Ciencia y Mar” collection of Lunwerg, a pioneering series in maritime research publishing in Spain.

She has been curator of major exhibitions and a speaker in more than 70 international conferences, highlighting the lecture “The Magellan–Elcano Circumnavigation. Sailing the Ocean: Life and Death in the Sixteenth Century”, delivered in 2019 at the Cervantes Institute in Beijing, within the international series for the 5th Centenary of Magellan–Elcano; promoter of the dissemination of underwater archaeology in both academic and media environments; and author of the critical catalogue and travelling exhibition on the Malaspina Expedition (1789–1794), one of the greatest Spanish Enlightenment scientific enterprises of the eighteenth century.

She has received numerous awards and distinctions such as the Naval Merit Cross (1988); “Honorary Diver” from the Navy; and the Periplo Research Award for her studies on Magellan–Elcano in 2022.

She is a Corresponding Academician of the Royal Spanish Academy of History and of the National Academy of History of Argentina; member of the Royal Board of Trustees of the Naval Museum (2005–2015); Vice-President of the Spanish Geographical Society until May 2022.

It is worth noting her valuable contribution to the recognition of the role of women in the conquest and colonization of the Americas, with a rigorous, critical and deeply committed perspective, rescuing from oblivion the memory of the women who participated in the processes of expansion, settlement and transformation of the New World, bringing greater complexity and fairness to the interpretation of that historical period.

She has left a fundamental imprint on the development of legislation on underwater archaeological heritage, both at the national and international levels. Her work has been key in the formulation of regulatory frameworks and guidelines for the protection, conservation and valorization of this historically vulnerable heritage.