Current Members
Prof. Camilleri Podesta is the Chairperson of the Gender Issues Committee. She has been working in the department of Anatomy for the past 32 years, starting as a research assistant and currently occupying the post of professor and also holding the post of head of department for several years. She has conducted numerous studied both locally and abroad, which has contributed extensively to the knowledge on diverticular disease of the colon and bile acid secretion. Her work includes collaboration with other faculties within the University of Malta and the University of Pisa. She has also supervised M.Phil. and Ph.D. students.
She is also Chairperson of the National Commission of Mental Health, which has together with the Hospital Management Team of Mount Carmel Hospital, in completing a Strategy for Community Mental Health Services, spread out over a period of ten years. Also a new Mental Health Act has been drafted under by chairmanship and this draft will shortly be submitted to the Social Affairs Committee of Parliament. She is also member of various other committees, including Med Net, MTN, and is Secretary of the Association of Court Experts.
Ms Patricia Camilleri (née Boland) was born and brought up in the UK. She left England in 1973 and spent a year working in Sicily. Following some months of study in Malta, she spent a year working in Rome, returning to live on the island in 1976. In 1988 she joined the University of Malta and read for a B.A. degree in Italian, Archaeology & Communication Studies. After her final exams in 1991, she started working at the University of Malta where she was entrusted with the setting up the Communications Office and went on to become Director of the Communications & Alumni Relations Office. Ms Camilleri has been a member of the Gender Issues Committee for many years and has participated in many seminars and meetings concerning gender both in Malta and abroad. In 2001 she gained her Master of Arts degree with a thesis entitled: L’analisi strutturale: verso una semiologia museale. Her special research interests are museum theory and the catacombs of Malta.
Ms Gina DeBattista is a full time counsellor with the University of Malta, posted at Junior College. She is also an Assistant Lecturer within the Department of Psychology. She holds an M.A. in Gestalt Psychotherapy. She has special interest in therapy work both on an individual and group level. Her work also involves facilitating seminars and personal development group work with the aim of supporting one's growth towards the realization of one's potential. As a member of the Gender Issues Committee she is also highly interested in contributing towards dealing with gender issues from a psychological perspective.
Dr Josette Farrugia holds a B.Ed. from the University of Malta and a Ph.D. from the University of York. She is the Principal Subject Area Officer for Sciences at the MATSEC Examination Board and a senior lecturer in Science Education at the Faculty of Education of the University of Malta. Her research interests include various aspects of science education and educational assessment.
Dr Ruth Farrugia is an advocate and senior lecturer in the Faculty of Laws at the University of Malta. She studied at the University of Malta, University of Strasbourg and Metropolitan Ecclesiastical Tribunal. She is a former consultant to the deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Social Policy, the Social Affairs Committee in Parliament and United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). She has been chairperson of the Children Care Orders Board and drafted the Children Act, Commissioner for Children Act and Gender Equality Act.
Dr Farrugia is currently expert to the Council of Europe Human Rights and Legal Affairs Division, legal advisor to the Malta Commissioner for Children, country expert to the Comparative European Family Law Commission and the Common Core in Family Law Group and has recently been appointed to the PRMIII Experts Group of the European Commission. She has published widely in the field of family law, child law, asylum and human rights.
Dr Gorg Mallia is a communications academic, author and cartoonist working on the island of Malta. He is a senior lecturer at the Centre for Communication Technology, University of Malta. He has a B.A.(Hons) in English Literature and an M.A. in Communications, both from the University of Malta, and a Ph.D. in Instructional Technology, from the University of Sheffield, UK. He specialises in Print and Presentation Media, Personal Communications, Personal Branding, and Instructional Design and Technology (particularly Transfer of Learning).
Dr Mallia has published books of fiction for children, which he has also illustrated, as well as books of experimental short stories. He has published extensively (in Maltese and English) both in his academic fields of interest and creatively, children's and adult fiction.
Dr Janet Mifsud B.Pharm.(Hons), Ph.D. (QUB) was appointed the Commissioner, National Commission for the Promotion of Equality for Men and Women in 2004 and has represented Malta at several gender EU, UN and EuroMed policy meetings. She has been active in the gender and science field for several years. She has been invited by EU DG Research to attend Women in Science Fora held in Brussels, and she has also been appointed several times expert evaluator for proposals submitted under the Quality of Life and Marie Curie Actions FP5, FP6 key actions and now also FP7 calls. Locally, she has chaired the Gender Issues Committee for the University of Malta and is a member of the Public Service Commission.
Dr Mifsud is Senior Lecturer, Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Malta and she has published extensively in the area of the therapeutic management of neurological disorders. She is on several international scientific committees such as Mediterranean Epilepsy Society, International League against Epilepsy, and European Federation of Pharmaceutical Sciences. She represents Malta on the High Level Gender Equality Advisory Group of DG Employment and Social Affairs in Brussels.
Dr Marceline Naudi received her first degree from University of Malta (1980), her Master’s Degree in Women’s Studies from University of Bradford (U.K.) (1990) and her Doctorate (in Social Work) from Manchester University (U.K.) (2004)
A social worker by profession, her years of practice (in England, Ireland and Malta) have included work with children and young people in care and their families, ex-offenders, homeless people, persons with mental health support needs and survivors of domestic violence. She is a member of the academic staff team within the Department of Social Policy having responsibility for anti-oppressive social work practice teaching as well as student placements. Dr Naudi also contributes to teaching within several other departments on gender issues and other anti-oppressive issues. She is also active in the issues of women’s rights, and domestic violence, as well as wider equal opportunity issues. She is Chairperson of the Commission on Domestic Violence which falls under the Ministry of Social Policy.
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