Ms Kim Farrugia and Ms Alessandra Bianco, who were involved in a shortlisted joint submission for the Oliver Friggieri monument, were invited to participate in the virtual online Annual Women Economic Forum Summit 2021 with the theme ‘Women's participation in the design of public monuments: The case of the national monument to Oliver Friggieri’.

This year’s summit, which was held in Malta, had as a theme “United Together, Creating and leading the way: A masterpiece of creativity towards Sustainability and Growth, a Renaissance towards Agenda 2030”.

Notable speakers included the Minister for Foreign and European Affairs, Hon. Evarist Bartolo as well as several members of the diplomatic corps and distinguished dignitaries such as the President Emeritus of Ecuador, H.E. Rosalía Arteaga Serrano, the Lieutenant Governor Emeritus of Puducherry, India, H.E. Kiran Bedi, the Indian yogi and author Jaggi Vasudev (publicly known as Sadhguru), the founder and President of Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Harbeen Arora, and the President of the Malta-India Women’s Chamber, Dame Jane Chircop.

Ms Farrugia is a postgraduate student at the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, Faculty for the Built Environment, whilst Ms Bianco is an undergraduate student at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering.

They formed part of the shortlisted collective joint proposal for the national monument in honour to the literary scholar, poet, thinker, Oliver Friggieri. Their team included sculptor Antonio Mifsud and Dr Lino Bianco, a resident academic at the Faculty for the Built Environment. Their presentation, highlighting the significance of public engagement in the design of national monuments, was well received.