Betsson Malta Ltd has announced the third edition of its Gaming Award for University of Malta students, to recognise achievement in gaming research. It established the student award on an annual basis with a cash prize of €1500 for the best gaming related dissertation. The Betsson Malta Student Gaming Award for last year was won by Mr Renzo Galea with the dissertation titled: 'Modelling Football Data', Faculty of Education, B.Psy. (Hons) (Melit.) 2010.

Betsson has a long history in the gaming industry and has been operating in Malta since 2006. Social responsibility is an important aspect of the company's day-to-day operations in relation to customers as well as employees. In fact, Betsson won the Most Socially Responsible Operator of the Year Award 2009 in London, and has been shortlisted for this award three years running. In line with these values, the company is committed to support research in gambling and problem gambling.

Betsson is working in association with the University of Malta and has the support of the Malta Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LGA). The Malta University Student Council (KSU) is helping to raise awareness of the award amongst students.

The University of Malta invites other companies to participate in similar initiatives by supporting collaborative research. The University also welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with the LGA. The LGA acknowledges its commitment towards responsible gaming and gives utmost priority to the social perspective of gaming. It is dedicated to preventing gambling addiction and protecting vulnerable groups. The LGA also encourages research in relation to all fields of gaming, including but not limited to technical, mathematical, legal, business and social research, whilst it promotes the implementation of effective programs for prevention and education.

To be eligible for the Betsson Award, the applicant must have submitted the dissertation as part of work towards a university degree at the University of Malta. Dissertations from all disciplines are welcome as long as the research relates in some way to gaming. (For the purpose of the award 'gaming' is defined according to the Malta Lotteries and Other Games Act, 2001, which implies that it relates to a game of chance and skill, that is 'a game for money and, or prizes with a monetary value, the results of which are not totally accidental but depend, to a certain extent on the skill of the participant'.)

For this issue of the Betsson Gaming Award: submissions of all relevant dissertations relating to gaming are welcome, irrespective of the year they were completed. All submissions must be sent in soft copy (in pdf format) by email, together with a single page document providing the participant’s contact details and explaining the contribution of the dissertation to the field of gaming.

Any dissertations previously submitted should not be re-submitted.

Deadline for submission for the 2012 award is 10 July.

The submissions will be assessed by an independent interdisciplinary panel of experts on the basis of their relevance and their applicability to the gaming industry. The panel will judge the overall quality of the dissertations with particular emphasis on the following points:

• New research
• Relevance
• Applicability to practice
• Applicability to theory
• Demonstration of knowledge
• Analytical ability
• Is the dissertation stimulating and challenging?

The best candidates will be selected and invited to present their work to the panel at an event open to the public, which will be held towards the end of September 2012. The prize of €1500 will be awarded at the event to the winning candidate.

The winner will be selected on the basis of both the dissertation and presentation, and the panel's decision will be final.

Kindly forward any questions regarding the award to:
Ms Hillevi Stuhrenberg
Manager for Responsible Gaming & CSR
Betsson

The European Commission has recently launched a call on Corporate Social Responsibility under the EU’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme:

Call for Proposals
European Multistakeholder platforms on corporate social responsibility in relevant business sectors
(41/G/ENT/CIP/12/E/N02S001)

Deadline: 14 September 2012

The overall objective of this call is to encourage and enable more European enterprises of the respective business sector across the EU to take a strategic approach to corporate social responsibility in cooperation with relevant stakeholders.

The specific objectives of this initiative are to:

• provide an opportunity for enterprises and other stakeholders to identify and discuss constructively the current and future CSR-related challenges facing individual business sectors
• facilitate the adoption of sector wide joint commitments to address those challenges, and of monitoring tools to evaluate progress
• encourage a much larger number of enterprises to take a strategic approach to social responsibility in close cooperation with their stakeholders
• give greater visibility to the CSR activities of enterprises.
  

The grants will be to organisations to build up, support and coordinate a multistakeholder CSR platform in a relevant business sector. Possible activities and outputs could include:

• identify main challenges of respective business sector
• develop solution strategies
• support and consultation
• publicly available set of commitments by enterprises and stakeholders
• monitoring tools for joint evaluation of progress.

Applicants may act individually or in consortium with partner organisations. Lead organisation and any partner organisations must correspond to the definition of the following target organisations:

• Sector-based employers’/ business organisation or business network
• Individual private or public company
• Trade union
• Non-governmental organisation
• Public authority
• Academic or educational/training institution.

Applicants must show they have the operational (technical and management) capacity to complete the operation to be supported and must demonstrate their capacity to manage scale activity corresponding to the size of the project for which the grant is requested. In particular, the team responsible for the project/operation must have adequate professional qualifications and experience.

Only projects that are strictly non-profit-making and/or whose immediate objective is non-commercial shall be eligible.

It is imperative to read the Guide for Applicants very carefully. All information, application instructions as well as other documentation about this call are available online.

Russian FP7 Research Infrastructures NCP has a pleasure to inform you about a workshop and exhibition 'Nanotechnology applications in automobile industry and mechanical engineering. High-quality research and advanced Research Infrastructures in Russia and EU' taking place in Rome, Italy between 1 and 5 October, 2012.

The workshop is intended to give a comprehensive picture of the latest Nanotechnology achievements in the automobile industry and mechanical engineering in Russia and Europe, to present relevant Research Infrastructures. The major focus is set on discussing open problems, defining future trends in interconnection and integration of European and Russian Research Infrastructures.

This event will bring together representatives of science community, Universities, Research Infrastructures from Russia and EU; will provide the international forum to exchange the information and expertise in the automobile industry and mechanical engineering, to interact and network.

It will be an ideal platform for strengthening and enhancing international cooperation between European and Russian scientists in the fields affiliated to N&N.

The format will include thematic sessions for academic and practitioner presentations, the exhibition, discussion panels.

Both exhibition and workshop will be hosted by the Russian Center of Science and Culture in Rome.

Contact Details:
Marine Melkonyan, Ph.D.
The Coordinator of NCP 'Research Infrastructures'
Tel: +7-495-638-46-29
Fax: +7-499-236-21-05
Email

The Italian Government is offering 30 months of scholarships, carrying an allowance of €800, for language courses, graduate and postgraduate studies, art, music and Italian culture, to be availed of during the academic year 2012/13. Detailed information can be found online.

Before filling the application form students should contact the Italian Cultural Institute in Valletta  for details and information about this offer.

'Vecchia Cancelleria'
Piazza S. Giorgio
Valletta VLT 1190
Telephone: +356 21221462
Fax: +356 21220548

Applications are to be filled directly online. The applications must be received online by midnight Monday 11 June 2012. Moreover, within ten days from applying online, one has to send all necessary documentation requested as hard copy to the Italian Cultural Institute (Attn Dr. Bruno Busetti). It is being underlined that only applications through this system will be considered.

The applicants’ age should not exceed 35 years.

A copy of the application is also to be sent to the Scholarship Section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This can be either posted, faxed, sent by email or one can use the Scholarships portal. Kindly note that this portal requires an e-ID certification. E-ID registration details may be obtained from the website.

Successful candidates may be required to enter into a contract to serve the Government or the Private Sector of Malta upon completion of the scholarship.

Applications from Government and Parastatal employees and from the Private Sector will not be considered unless recommended by their Head of Department/Employer respectively.

The Board’s decision will be final.

Scholarships Section Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Palazzo Parisio
Merchants Street
Valletta VLT 2000

Tel: +356 22042376
Fax: +356 21240083
Email
Website

A new call for project proposals to be part-financed by the European Union under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) 2007-2013 will be launched shortly. Prospective applicants will be invited to submit applications for projects falling under the following Priority Axis of Operational Programme I 'Investing in Competitiveness for a Better Quality of Life':

Priority Axis 4: Climate Change and Resource Efficiency

Focus Area: Energy
The call is restricted to studies or interventions undertaken by Public Entities with the aim of increasing energy efficiency and exploiting the use of renewable energy sources.

Focus Area: Resource Efficiency
The call is restricted to interventions undertaken by Public Entities with the aim of promoting the best use of available resources.

Prospective applicants are encouraged to consult the draft Operational Programme which can be found online.

The total indicative financial threshold for this call (for both focus areas) is €70 million, €5 - €10 million of which are earmarked for projects whose total project values is below €1 million.

Prospective applicants should note the total indicative financial threshold for this call.  

Briefing Session
For further guidance, a short briefing session for prospective applicants will be held on:
Monday 28 May from 0900hrs to 1030hrs.

The registration form for the Briefing Session can be downloaded from here and forwarded by email by not later than Monday 21 May 2012 at noon.

The actual launch of the call, together with details of the related Information Session, will be published in the coming weeks and will also be available on our webpage. Background documents and further information may be obtained from here or from the PPCD's Online Helpdesk.

Entities forming part of the Ministry of Education and Employment (MEDE) portfolio which anticipate submitting project/s, are to send a brief description of the proposal/s to the Programme Implementation Directorate, Ministry of Education and Employment, by email to Nicolette Debono or Simon Abela.

The Local Organising Committee, together with the International Advisory & Technical Committees of the 7th International Workshop on Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) has the pleasure of inviting paper submissions for this year's event, which will take place in Malta, 8 - 12 October 2012.

Deadline for abstract submission 11 May 2012

Notification of acceptance 8 June 2012

Deadline for full paper submission 29 June 2012

For full details visit the Conference website.

The Westin Dragonara Resort, Dragonara Road, St Julians STJ02
29 November - 1 December 2012
 
Call for Abstracts
 
The Malta Medical School Conference is an established major trienniel event, which hosts both local and foreign speakers of international standing, in a multidisciplinary meeting which showcases recent developments in clinical and scientific research. The organising committee is currently working on an extensive programme with multiple parallel sessions covering all major medical and scientific specialities. Special plenary sessions will provide the opportunity for speakers of international standing to deliver presentations which focus on the latest cutting edge research within mainstream fields. The event also presents an opportunity for prospective sponsors to meet hundreds of professionals in order to further strengthen business relationships, in an environment that is conducive to personal interaction and discussion.
 
The Organising Committee is pleased to invite the submission of abstracts for consideration as oral or poster presentations. The deadline for abstract submission is 31 July 2012. Further information and submission instructions are available at the Conference website.

Turkish Government Scholarships are available for foreign students who would like to study in Turkey.

Details are available on the website.

The European Research Council Executive Agency (ERCEA) is looking for National Experts to be seconded to the Agency. Seconded National Experts are persons employed by a national, regional or local public administration or an intergovernmental organisation, who are seconded to the ERCEA so that it can use their expertise in a particular field. The profile that ERCEA is looking for is available online.

Applications must be sent by the Permanent Representation / EFTA secretariat by email before the deadline which is Friday 1 June 2012, at 1200hrs (midday) Brussels time.

The call is also published on the ERCEA website - ERC news.

4th Conference of the Mediterranean Neuroscience Society
30 September - 3 October 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey
Call for Abstracts

The 4th Conference of Mediterranean Neuroscience Society (MNS) is happy to launch the call for abstracts.
Deadline for the submission of an abstract is May 15, 2012.

The MNS strives to strengthen exchanges between Mediterranean neuroscientists, promote education in the neurosciences and increase public awareness of progress made. Professor Giuseppe Di Giovanni, an academic member of staff the Department of Physiology and Biochemistry at the Faculty of Medicine & Surgery, University of Malta, will have the honour of chairing a Symposium at the conference entitled 'Serotonin implication in neuropsychiatric disorders: a translational approach.'

The participation of scientists from Malta is encouraged to further collaborations with our Mediterranean neighbours.

The abstract must be sent by email.

The MNS, the N€uromed consortium, and the ISIS consortium will provide stipends for young qualified researchers.

Abstract Form
Times New Roman font style, 10 font size
Title: capitalise first letter of each word in the title
Name(s) the authors
Address(es) of the author(s)
The full postal address

Abstract
It should not exceed 300 words and should describe the scope, hypothesis or rationale for the work and the main findings. Abstract must include following sections:
Problem Statement: This section should include answers of the questions:

• Why was research needed?
• What was the context of the work?
• Introduce the problem or provide background for what you will address.

Approach

• What did you do and how did you go about solving or making progress on the problem.
• Describe the method of research, study, or analysis applied to the problem.

Results

• What results did you get?
• State what you found and relate it to the problem.
• Summarize the major results in numbers, avoid vague, hand waving results such as 'very small' or 'significant'.

Conclusions/Recommendations

• What are the implications of your answer?
• State the relevance, implications, or significance of the results or conclusions, to the business.
• Significance of work is often implied by the recommendations or implications for future work.

Keywords
3 to 5 key words should be provided

The SG is looking for a new trainee with the Erasmus Placement or Leonardo da Vinci grants starting in June 2012. The candidate should have strong language skills in both English and Spanish.

The trainee would assist in the development of networking activities; the organisation of meetings and events; the general administrative support, follow-up of EU policies in education and training; and the management and dissemination of information. Interested candidates should send a CV and Cover Letter by email.

For the details of the position, please contact the SG Secretariat. 

Are you a post-doc or have you been working as a researcher for at least 4 years? Would you like to expand your research experience with a stay in a foreign host institution? Are you ready for a new challenge and an international career? Are you keen to learn new research skills and approaches? Do you want to broaden your network and mature as an independent researcher?

Or is your organisation or department interested in hosting an experienced researcher?

Then the Marie Curie Individual Fellowships are made for you.

Nearly 80 years after her death, Marie Curie is assisting researchers to carry out outstanding research through a funding programme which carries her name. The Marie Curie Fellowships (under the People Programme in the 7th Framework Programme), provides funding for individual researchers, allowing them to diversify and broaden their scientific knowledge and skills. These are mobility fellowships, meaning you must move to a different country.

The Marie Curie Actions are open to all disciplines and fields of research (except for nuclear research). It is important to understand that funding is awarded following a competitive process based on peer review. The Marie Curie fellowships cover the salary of the researcher and also provide additional mobility allowances to the researcher. On the other hand, the host institution will receive a contribution to cover the research and training expenses and a contribution for overheads costs.

The Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST), as the National Contact Point Organisation for FP7 in Malta, assists researchers to tap into these funds.

For further information on the Marie Curie Fellowships kindly contact Ms Anthea Fabri, FP7 National Coordinator, by email.

The current call is open until 16 August 2012.

The FP7 Health Partnering event co-organised by the projects HEALTH-NCP-NET and Fit for Health, is scheduled to be held on 30 May 2012, in Brussels.

The Partnering Event will offer the possibility to present participants’ project ideas or company expertise in order to extend their cooperation with international partners in the Health sector. On this same day, there will be a possibility to participate in pre-booked bilateral meetings to establish new contacts and partnerships.

In order to participate please register by clicking here. Kindly declare the participation in plenary session and flash presentation sessions only.

The brokerage event will be back to back with the Open information day, organized by the European Commission scheduled to be held on 29 May 2012 to which you are also invited to attend.

Information and registration on the Open Info Day can be found here.

In this context, you may also wish to take advantage of our Brokerage Events scheme to attend the above mentioned meeting. The Council can reimburse your flight up to €500 and a flat rate for accommodation of €100 per night.

The Cultural Contact Point (Malta) is inviting you to a series of events aimed at facilitating access to Culture Programme funds for Malta and Gozo-based cultural operators like yourselves. The Culture Programme is the main financial mechanism of the European Commission aimed at the cultural and creative sector. A total budget of € 400 million is allocated to support cultural initiatives promoting mobility of artists, quality cultural projects across Europe and intercultural dialogue.

The Keys to Culture 2012 programme of events is designed to support Malta and Gozo-based organisations in designing, developing and submitting their application for funding under the Culture Programme. CCP (Malta) provides step-by-step support, guidance and resources including partner search and many other useful tools for the development of international projects.

In 2011, the Cultural Contact Point supported a number of organisations in developing European and international projects which led to three successful applications for Maltese beneficiaries.

You are cordially being invited to the following events:

19 April 2012 from 1100hrs to 1200hrs
Briefing Session
During this informal session CCP (Malta) will be briefing participants about the basic facts of the Culture Programme and disseminate a useful toolkit to be used in designing and developing an international project.

25 April 2012 from 1000hrs to 1400hrs
How to? (brainstorming, partner search, building a partnership, application, raising funds)
How to? is a hands-on workshop during which participants design mini-projects together in a collaborative spirit under the guidance of the CCP.  

19 June  2012 from1900hrs onwards
Sharing Projects
A selection of potential beneficiaries of the Culture Programme will be sharing short presentations about their projects and receiving feedback from various experts including members of the EACEA, the agency which manages the Culture Programme in Brussels. Only participants who have developed ideas in collaboration with the CCP through the Keys to Culture 2012 process will be able to participate in the evening. A standing dinner and networking session will follow the formal presentations.

How to? sessions are only open to those who attend the briefing session on April 19. Similarly, the Sharing Projects session is only open to those who attend the April 25 session. In this manner, continuity and in-depth progression in project drafting can be maximised for all those taking part in the process.

To book your place for the first briefing session (19.04.2012) send an email by Tuesday 10 April 2012. Participation is free. Venues for all the above sessions will be confirmed at a later date.

Join us on Facebook

Contact Details:
Glen Calleja
Head - Cultural Contact Point (Malta)
Culture and Audiovisuals Unit
Auberge d'Italie - Merchants Street, Valletta
Tel: +356 2291 5081

The Schwarzkopf Foundation Young Europe every year awards two travel grants – one classical travel grant and the so called InterRail-Global Passes in cooperation with Deutsche Bahn AG to give young people the opportunity to travel and explore Europe.

The young people who receive the award are obliged to write a comprehensive travel report.

Classical Travel Grant

With this travel grant the Schwarzkopf Foundation Young Europe offers young people the chance to get to know European neighbours as well as to face current cultural or political developments of the respective country.

Applicants should be European citizens between 18 and 26 who are planning a study trip to Germany.

For the terms and conditions visit the website.


InterRail Global Pass

Similar to its classical travel grants the Schwarzkopf Foundation Young Europe offers young people the chance to get to know their European neighbours as well as to become aware of current cultural or political developments there.

Young people between 17 and 25 of who have permanently lived in the EU, the GUS or Turkey for at least six month at the time of application may apply for a trip with the InterRail-Global Pass.

The applicants freely choose the countries they wish to travel to. The trip needs to have a specifically defined research topic regarding a current cultural or political development in the context of European integration which needs to be explained and elaborated in the application.

For the terms and conditions visit the website.

Application deadlines are twice a year:
1 March
1 September.

For further information please contact:
Ms Ilka Keuper
Email
Tel.: +49 30 28095146

*****
The Schwarzkopf Foundation was founded in 1971 with the mission to support the development of young people into politically-aware and responsible citizens by focussing on the strengthening of the European Idea and pan-European understanding.

Its aim is to develop a dialogue between young people of 16 and 28 years of age and leading figures from the world of politics, the economy and culture. It provides young people with information about the decision-making process in Europe and makes this process visible and tangible and thus beneficial to the education of young people.

The EU Funds – Policy Coordination Directorate within the Office of the Prime Minister would like to inform you about the launch of the next Call for Proposals under the European Observation Network for Territorial Development and Cohesion (ESPON 2013 Programme).

The Call for Proposals will open on 18 April 2012 and the deadline for submitting proposals is 13 June 2012.

More information is available through the ESPON web-link.

In conjunction with the call, an information day for potential beneficiaries will be organised on 10 May 2012. Information about the Information Day can be found online.

The pre-announcement of the Call was published in the Official Journal of the EU (reference: OJ, C052 of 22/02/2012), web-link.

Should you require any further information, please contact Ms Debbie Lora Dimech by email.

 Pre-Announcement Call for Project Proposals under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)

A new call for project proposals to be part-financed by the European Union under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) 2007-2013 will be launched shortly. Prospective applicants will be invited to submit applications for projects falling under the following Priority Axis of Operational Programme I ‘Investing in Competitiveness for a Better Quality of Life':

Priority Axis 6: Urban Regeneration and Improving the Quality of Life

Focus Areas:

• Internal Mobility - the call is intended for innovative project proposals aiming to reduce the demand for the use of private means of transportation, without however, compromising accessibility.
• E-accessibility - the call is intended for project proposals aiming to use ICT as an effective management tool within the public sector to deliver accessible and secure government services.
• Education, Social and Health-related Infrastructure - more information will be available in the call that will be issued in the coming weeks.

The total indicative financial threshold for this call is €16 million. The Managing Authority will consider increasing the allocation to use any savings registered under this Priority Axis.

Further information may be obtained from here.

Entities forming part of the Ministry of Education and Employment (MEDE) portfolio, which are anticipating submission of project/s, are to send a brief description of proposal/s to the Policy Development and Programme Implementation Directorate - MEDE by email to Simon Abela and Nicolette Debono.

The Royal Anthropological Institute is pleased to announce that the call for panels for the conference 'Anthropology in the World' is open. This event will take place at the British Museum, 8-10 June 2012.

The background to the conference is as follows. It is clear that anthropology has influenced the world outside universities in many different ways, but we have not yet attempted to sketch out clearly the way that this has taken place. To gain a better understanding of how and where anthropology is influential will be potential useful in many ways both theoretical and practical: it will give us a better understanding of anthropology's intellectual place, it will help us understand where we may be most effective, and it will help us greatly in helping and advising those who may wish to seek a career that is relevant to their anthropological studies.

To this end, in conjunction with the Anthropology Centre at the British Museum, we hope to welcome those persons within universities who are curious as to the discipline's wider place in the external world; those who are already employing their anthropological skills outside academia, those who might wish to employ anthropologists, and those who are studying anthropology and wonder how it may be a useful skill for them in the future.

Panels may be conventional in format, or they may be fluid, for example round-tables, film showings, or debates. Further details as to the conference and the call for panels may be found online.

1st Call for Strategic Projects under the ENPI CBC MED Programme – Projects Idea Database

The Managing Authority of the ENPI CBC MED Programme has uploaded a projects idea database to the programme website.  

This tool can be used by interested parties to disseminate a project idea and/or join proposals drafted by another entity.

American Universities

Universities World wide

International Higher Education Search Engine and Directory 4icu.org