The Rector of the University of Malta (UM), Prof. Alfred J. Vella, welcomed awardees of the UM Research Fund at a congratulatory meeting held at the University Council Room. This is the third year that these funds are being awarded.
The UM Research Fund Committee was set up to disburse the research funds obtained by the University from the yearly Government subvention to resident academics, as well as to awardees chosen by independent external international evaluators.
Four EUR 60k awards (EUR 240,000) were presented for conducting a research project and employing support staff over a two-year period from January 2020 to 2021. The four research categories are Life Sciences/Medical/Health, ICT/Engineering/Built Environment, Natural Sciences/Economics/ Management/Accountancy, and Art/Humanities/Social Sciences.
In his address Prof. Saviour Zammit, Chairman of the Research Fund Committee, congratulated the awardees and lauded them on the high level achieved as represented by the external evaluators.
The awardees are Dr David Zammit for the project 'Systematising Smart Contracts within Classical Contract Law Theory', Dr Ing. Jason Gauci for 'Human-in-the-loop Aircraft Taxing Optimisation Using Autonomous Tow Trucks', Professor Joseph J. Borg for 'New Molecules for the Re-Activation of Haemoglobin (Hb) F n the Treatment of Sickle Cell Disease and Thalassamia', Dr Jackson Said for 'Cosmology@Malta: Confronting cosmological parameter tensions in the PLANCK 18 results through novel approaches to gravity'.