Events - University of Malta

Archaeological Excavations

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:41:10 +0200

The public is invited to a direct experience of archaeological excavations that are being conducted on the remains of a typical Roman villa in the grounds of the Carlo Diacono Lyceum in Zejtun (close to the Medieval church of St Gregory).

The remains were discovered accidentally during building operations in 1960. Archaeological excavations were undertaken at irregular intervals in the following two decades revealing parts of the residential area of the villa and parts of the stone apparatus used in Roman times for the pressing of olive oil.
The current excavations are being conducted by the Department of Classics and Archaeology of the University of Malta.

An 'Open Day' is being held on Wednesday 2 July between 0900hrs and 1100hrs during which time the interested public will have the possibility of seeing archaeological excavations in action.

The easiest way to reach the School is from the Bir id-Deheb bypass to St Gregory’s Church.

Information Seminar

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 08:00:20 +0200

The Faculty of Engineering is organising an Information Seminar on its new courses on the 4th of July at 1600hrs at Sir Temi Zammit Hall, University Campus.

The Faculty of Engineering at the University of Malta is offering a new suite of degree programmes to meet today’s engineering and technological needs, covering the areas of electrical engineering, electronic engineering, systems and control engineering, mechanical engineering and industrial engineering.

The B.Eng.(Hons) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering is a three-year programme providing knowledge and skills for Electrical and Electronic Engineers offering the fundamental knowledge in electrical circuit theory, electronics, automatic control, signal processing, electrical energy generation and distribution and computer programming. Students can opt to follow one of three areas, namely, Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering or Systems & Control Engineering, where each area has its own focus.

Electrical Engineering focuses on electromechanical and electrical aspects of energy generation, conversion, distribution and use. Students are given practical training supported by software simulation tools and exposed to the electrical and electronic design aspects required for the rapidly growing industry of power converters for applications such as the efficient use of conventional and renewable energy and the control of electric drives for electrical vehicle transportation.

Electronic Engineering focuses on electronics, providing the skills required to design, simulate, implement and evaluate electronic circuits in the light of the rapidly expanding IT-based economy, including modules on sensors, instrumentation and measurement, digital processors and interfacing, together with a strong emphasis on programming thereby bridging the link between physical and computer-based systems. Students are given the opportunity to pursue modules in one of four thematic areas: advanced digital systems design, integrated-circuit design, high-frequency circuit design and power circuit design.

Systems & Control Engineering adopts a system-based approach for addressing complex systems focusing on automatic control, signal and information processing, computational intelligence and computer-enabled systems, implemented by electronics and computer programs; these provide the skills to enable design, development, management and maintenance of: automatic control systems, such as vehicle stabilization; automation systems; intelligent machines, such as face recognition systems; signal processing algorithms, such as those used in biomedical monitoring equipment; and computational models, such as climate models.

The B.Eng.(Hons) in Mechanical Engineering is three-year Mechanical Engineering course training students to apply theoretical physical laws for the design and commissioning of mechanical engineering systems giving a solid foundation in classical mechanics incorporating thermodynamics of engines, refrigeration and air-conditioning, heat transfer, dynamics, kinematics and vibration analysis of machines, structural integrity and fluid-dynamics. The course offers the possibility to follow engineering disciplines such as building services, aeronautical and marine engineering, and amongst others, identifies main areas of employment in project engineering, plant maintenance, design, development and manufacture of mechanical engineering components in automotive, renewable energy, aerospace and marine sectors.

The B.Ind.Eng.(Hons) in Industrial Engineering provides students with the correct mix of engineering and management related skills thus preparing them for an engineering management-oriented career. Through this course graduates will be able to deal with the conceptual, methodological and technological tools used by industrial and service companies in the design, development and implementation of materials, products and processes. By spreading the interdisciplinary course over a period of 4 years the additional technical and management skills imparted allow the graduates to be able to take up engineering management jobs besides technical ones, or to embark on a one year full-time M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering or related areas.

An intelligent wheeled mobile robot designed and built in the engineering laboratories

Racing-car built by engineering students and used in an international racing competition

WICT 2008

Fri, 30 May 2008 15:05:37 +0200

WICT 2008, the First National ICT Conference promoting research and applications of technologies and practices in the field of ICT is being organised by the University of Malta’s Faculty of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) this November.

WICT 2008 solicits the submission of original papers dealing with both theoretical and practical aspects of ICT research. Topics should include (but are not limited to) any aspect from the following fields: Computer Information Systems, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Communications and Computer Engineering, Micro and Nano electronics. The call for papers is now open and further submission information may be obtained from the conference site. Deadline for abstract submission is the 4 of July.

Within the primary aim of promoting innovation, WICT is exposing current research efforts by university students, researchers and academics, enabling: researchers to direct their efforts to areas of national and international relevance; students to investigate their potential research areas in line with industry requirements; and market players to see what the academic arena has to offer in terms of R&D and recruitment opportunities. WICT also aims at creating an EU-wide R&D collaboration platform, promoting the above objectives at a pan-European level.

Topics presented at smaller-scale research workshops organized in previous years by individual departments within the Faculty of ICT include: A Strongly Typed Component-Based Embedded Hardware Description Language - High Performance Staged Event-Driven Middleware - Model Checking Concurrent Assembly Algorithms - Aspect-Oriented Programming for Temporal Properties in Security-Critical Software - Phrase Extraction for Machine Translation (in Natural Language Processing) – Grid Computing in Malta and the Mediterranean – (Web) Service Discovery and Composition – An Ontology of Security Threats to Web Applications – New Directions in Parallel and Functional Programming (by Microsoft Research).

Further prestige to the conference will be added by senior researchers from Microsoft Research and Sun Microsystems who are expected to be this year’s keynote speakers. Further Information regarding presented research topics, dates and venues will be released in due course. ICT professionals are all encouraged to participate in what is being considered as the largest national event concerning cutting edge ICT.

Summer Schools

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:53:38 +0200

The Foundation for International Studies Ltd will be organising the following summer schools:

Geographic Information Systems and Spatial Data Infrastructures in Preparation for Inspire
14 - 25 July 2008

Climate Change as a Common Concern of Humankind: Law and Policy
23 June to 4 July 2008

Caravaggio Studies
9-20 June 2008

Near Eastern Studies
9-28 June 2008

IT and Enginering Projects Exhibition (4, 5 Jul.)

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:15:20 +0200

The annual final year student project exhibitions of the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of ICT will be held in July on the University campus. These exhibitions serve to showcase the skills and creativity of the students as they prepare to graduate and embark on their chosen career. The exhibitions are also meant to bring Engineering and ICT closer to the general public. Visitors to the exhibition can meet the students who will explain and demonstrate their work. This is also a unique opportunity to all those interested in enrolling for an Engineering or an ICT degree or for secondary school students who are still considering their choice of subjects and their future career.

The Engineering Projects Exhibition will be held in the Engineering Building and will be open to the public on Friday 4 July from 1700hrs to 2000hrs and on Saturday 5 July from 0900hrs to 1300hrs whilst that of the ICT Projects will be open on Friday 4th July from 1700hrs to 2000hrs in Dar Guzeppi Zahra (Computer Building, car park 2).

The Reform Treaty: Citizenship (8 Jul.)

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:14:37 +0200

The European Documentation and Research Centre (EDRC) in conjunction with the Malta European Studies Association (MESA) with the support of the European Commission announces the sixth seminar in this year’s series.

Professor Jo Shaw
Salvesen Chair of European Institutions at the University of Edinburgh, and Co-Director of the Edinburgh Europa Institute

Title:
The Future Of Citizenship in the European Union: With or Without Lisbon

Abstract:
This paper will place those parts of the Treaty of Lisbon which address the issue of citizenship and participation in the European Union into the wider context of more general developments in EU law and policy. While the Treaty itself may have stagnated as a result of the Irish Referendum, its final fate is still not clear. It is therefore important to investigate what impact it might in the future have, whether it is ratified and enters into force or not.

Date: Tuesday 8th July 2008 at 1745hrs for 1800hrs

Venue: Mikiel Anton Vassalli Lecture Centre (Gateway Building) Hall E, University of Malta.

Please book by sending the following details: Name, Organisation, and E-mail address to Ms Romina Zammit.

Entrance: Free

University Theatre Shop (17 Jul. - 29 Aug.)

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:35:25 +0200

First Nepomuk Social Semantic Desktop Summer School (7-13 Sept.)

Fri, 23 May 2008 11:23:33 +0200

The Department of Artificial Intelligence of the Faculty of ICT, University of Malta is helping out in the organisation of a locally held summer school.

First Nepomuk Social Semantic Desktop Summer School
Hotel Victoria, Sliema
MALTA
7th - 13th September 2008

Objectives
The NEPOMUK Social Semantic Desktop EU Project brings together researchers, industrial software developers, and representative industrial users, to develop a comprehensive solution for extending the personal desktop into a collaboration environment which supports both the personal information management and the sharing and exchange across social and organizational relations.

The NEPOMUK Summer School will represent a very good opportunity for postgraduates students to refine their knowledge in a variety of topics such as Semantic Web, Personal Information Management, P2P, HCI or Social Networking, all in the context of the Social Semantic Destkop. It will consist of a range of theoretical and practical sessions taught by leading researchers in the field and combined with a series of mini-projects to encourage collaboration between participants. In addition to the taught and practical sessions, the students will also benefit from and enjoy a stimulating environment through social interactions with the lecturers, tutors or the other students.

Target Audience
Applicants are welcome from any location in the world. As requirements, the applicants should be PhD students, postdocs or young researchers acting in relevant disciplines for the field.

The accepted participants are expected to arrive in Malta on 7 September and be willing to commit themselves to the Summer School's activities, in terms of a full participation, until noon of 13 September. Applications that do not fulfil these requirements, will not be considered.

Click here for the Summer School Application Forms.

Grants
A small number of grants will be available for Ph.D. students pursuing their research in the field and who are else unable to afford participating in the Summer School. A grant will cover registration fees. To apply for a grant, the students will have to contact the organisers by email and provide a letter signed by their institution, confirming their status as students and the fact that it cannot contribute to their participation in the Summer School. The letter has to be scanned and emailed to the organisers, and in the case in which the grant is provided, the original letter has to be handed in at arrival time.

Important Dates
Application Closes: 9 June 2008
Notification of acceptance: 16 June 2008
Deadline for registration: 15 July 2008

Further information can be found on the Summer School's website.

International Social Capital Conference 2008 (19-22 Sept.)

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 12:04:57 +0200

The 2008 International Social Capital Conference will take place at the Dolmen Hotel, Qawra from 19-22 September.

The cost of participation including meals and cocktail is 300 euros. However since the University of Malta, through the Faculty of Education, is collaborating with the conference organisation, fifteen places have been reserved for academics on a first come first served basis at the sum of 50 euros inclusive of everything, including meals. Requests should first be sent by email to Prof. Peter Mayo.

Those who would like to present a paper can send an abstract by email by the 30th June to the conference organisers via the conference website.

Conference on Educational Leadership (12-14 Nov.)

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:31:04 +0100

Leadership is recognised as a critical dimension in both our personal and professional lives and needs to be taken seriously if we want to nurture learning communities which are of benefit to students and adults alike. The conference entitled Educational Leadership: nurturing meaning in a context of change aims to provide varied opportunities to share research findings, celebrate experiences, good practices and provide a forum for new and fresh ideas. The conference is intended to be an opportunity for participants to engage in dialogue that promotes compassion for and understanding of schooling among educators across international contexts. The Conference is being organised by the Directorate for Quality and Standards in Education, the Faculty of Education, the Malta Society for Educational Administration and Management and the Centre for Research for Lifelong Learning within the European Commission.

For further details please access the website on: www.leadershipconferencemalta.org or get in touch with D Christopher Bezzina.

Please make a note on your calendar for this event that takes place between November 12th and November 14th 2008.

Training Programme on Regional Ocean Governance (16 Nov. - 19 Dec.)

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:50:25 +0200

A Training Programme on Regional Ocean Governance will be held in Malta from the 16th November – 19th December 2008. Some scholarships are available for suitable applicants from the course target countries (especially developing countries around the Mediterranean, Black, Caspian and Baltic Seas).

Course Overview
The theme of the course draws upon the conduct of maritime affairs in line with the Lisbon Strategy, targeting the Millennium Development Goals and building upon a holistic and integrated maritime policy following the principles enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. It focuses on the linkages between the natural, social and economic sciences to the development of sustainable ocean governance, and on the research-management interface that can render governance operable.

The course stresses the inter-linkages of multi-disciplinary inputs, and on the support of technology to enable the effective achievement of ocean management and sustainable development. The emphasis of the course will be on the implications of the EU maritime policy for the European regional seas and the practical implementation that takes into account the particularities of seas as different and sensitive as the Mediterranean, Black, Baltic and Caspian Seas. The EU maritime policy and the coherence of policies of neighbouring states with it are investigated in depth as basis for regional cooperation. The course aims to build stronger coherence between the EU and its acceding countries and their neighbours in their engagement in the governance of the regional seas, promoting inter-regional comparisons, shared experiences and exchange of best practice scenarios, and fostering interaction between participants from European, Eastern European, North African and Middle East countries bordering the Mediterranean.

This course consists of 4 modules, presented over a five-week period. Topics covered include

Global Ocean Governance Framework
Managing our relations with the oceans
Conflict Management and Consensus-Building
Regional Ocean Governance Frameworks for the Mediterranean, Black, Baltic and Caspian Seas

It is specifically designed to benefit mid-career professionals, government officials, educators, researchers and civil society participants, preferably with coastal/marine-related responsibilities. Preference will be given to candidates from developing countries of the Mediterranean and Eastern European countries.

Click here for further information.

Click here for the preliminary and full application forms or send an email to the Course Coordinator.

The deadline for applications is the 15 September 2008.

Coastal and Marine Diversity of Local Waters (8-18 Jul.)

Fri, 09 May 2008 16:08:00 +0200

Continuing Education, one of the brands of Malta University Consulting Ltd, is organising a new programme in Marine Biology. This programme consists of 3 short lectures which will go into details such as aspects of local marine biodiversity and conservation issues. Participants may opt to complement this course with two SCUBA diving sessions, which may also be an excellent foundation course for those aiming to delve deeper into marine biology later on or for those who simply wish to acquaint themselves with the Mediterranean marine biodiversity. This course caters for both first-time divers, and also those with more experience, as the SCUBA dives will be conducted at different depths depending on the participant's prior experience.

The course will be held between 8 and 18 July 2008, lectures will be delivered by Dr Alan Deidun, whilst diving sessions will be held at the DiveSystems facilities, Sliema.

For further information and course details kindly contact Ms Fiona Frendo on 21 234 121/2 or or Dr A. Deidun.