Recent events

• 4th International Congress on Biodiversity

Professor David Mifsud, of the Institute of Earth Systems' Division of Rural Sciences and Food Systems, recently coordinated the 4th International Congress on Biodiversity, which was hosted by the Entomological Society of Malta between 17 and 19 November 2017. The congress was titled "Man, Natural Habitats and Euro-Mediterranean Biodiversity" and provided an opportunity for scientific debate among researchers, students, members of scientific and environmental organisations, government agencies and authorities, and managers of protected areas, as well as those involved in environmental education and management.

The congress programme is available for download; for further information, kindly get in touch with Prof. David Mifsud. 

Journal papers and other scientific publications

• Late glacial and early Holocene hydroclimate variability in northwest Iran (Talesh Mountains) inferred from chironomid and pollen analysis
  Aubert, C., Brisset, E., Djamali, M., Sharifi, A., Ponel, P., Gambin, B., Akbari Azirani, T., Guibal, F., Lahijani, H., Naderi Beni, A., de Beaulieu, J-L., Pourmand, A., Andrieu-Ponel, V., Thiery, A., & Gandouin, E. (2017). Journal of Paleolimnology, 58 (2), 151-167. DOI: 10.1007/s10933-017-9969-8

• Precipitation changes in the Mediterranean basin during the Holocene from terrestrial and marine pollen records: a model–data comparison
  Peyron, O., Combourieu-Nebout, N., Brayshaw, D., Goring, S., Andrieu-Ponel, V., Desperate, S., Fletcher, W., Gambin, B., Ioakim, C., Jeannine, S., Kotthoff, U., Kouli, K., Montade, V., Pross, J., Satori, L., & Magny, M. (2017). Climate of the Past, 13, 249-265.  DOI: 10.5194/cp-13-249-2017

Other outreach activities

• XjenzaMania Summer School activities

In August 2017, the Institute of Earth Systems hosted two STEAM Summer School interactive learning activities for children between the ages of ten and twelve. During these activities held at the Institute's Projects Office, two separate groups of young students carried out simple laboratory experiments designed to introduce them to the basic scientific concepts of taking measurements, recording their findings and interpreting the results. The experiments focused on classifying different types of soil, and the students greatly enjoyed the hands-on approach.

XjenzaMania’s Sciences, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics (STEAM) Summer School is one of the programmes offered by the Cottonera Resource Centre which was set up to co-ordinate links between the communities of the inner harbour area and the University, for the purposes of resource-transfer and capacity building. The participation of the Institute of Earth Systems in these activities for young students underlines its commitment to human resources capacity building and demonstrates that no age is too young to start fostering an interest in science!