Keeping up the hope

Abstract

Dear readers and authors of Xjenza Online, as Editorin-Chief, I am very pleased to announce the release of the second issue of 2020 of Xjenza Online. For the past year, the world has been through a terrible crisis which impacted on every aspect of our lives and work. In the higher education sector, in-person teaching, learning and research have faced severe disruptions or have been stopped altogether in order to curb the spread of COVID-19. Academic and student mobility has been reduced to the point that international research collaborations, conferences, visiting scholar and student exchange programmes were put on halt. Many research activities have also been threatened by the discontinuation of lab and field work. These interruptions have resulted not only in delayed or missed scholarship, but also in the loss of professional advancement and training for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers, not to mention the overall loss of human interaction from excess digitization. Nevertheless, this issue of Xjenza Online demonstrates once more the continuity of the scientific endeavour in the Maltese Islands, particularly the one drawn on the local research expertise. [excerpt]