Prof. JoAnn Cassar is Full Professor and Head of the Department of Conservation and Built Heritage within the Faculty for the Built Environment, University of Malta, and Deputy Dean of the Faculty. She is also Chair of the Faculty Doctoral Committee and Faculty Representative on Senate. She is a Fellow of the International Institute for Conservation (FIIC), Fellow of the Geological Society (FGS), Chartered Chemist and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (CChem, FRSC) and Chartered Scientist (CSci). She is a Board member of the Maltese national agency for museums, conservation practice and cultural heritage - Heritage Malta. She has been carrying out research on Heritage Science, particularly on stone characterization, deterioration and conservation for over thirty years, including specifically on the Maltese Prehistoric Megalithic Temples. She is currently leading projects on an evaluation of the behaviour of the shelters over the Prehistoric Megalithic Temples of Malta - with Heritage Malta; on the Urban Heat Island in historic urban centres in the current and changing climates, using satellite and drone images - with Prof. Charles Galdies, Institute of Earth Systems. She has spearheaded Malta’s participation in E-RIHS - the European Research Infrastructure for Heritage Science. She has directed the nomination, and acceptance, of Malta’s Globigerina Limestone as a Global Heritage Stone Resource by the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS). She is Project Leader for the HERITAGE Research Cluster, with UM funding, leading a team of 24 researchers from eight Faculties and an Institute. She has lectured widely in foreign universities, has given numerous presentations at international conferences and is a regular reviewer for scientific and cultural heritage journals. She has numerous scientific publications on conservation-related topics to her name, and is the author or editor/co-editor of eight books, with another in preparation.

The Department of Conservation and Built Heritage is currently involved in a number of high-
level projects where Professor Cassar is the lead researcher.

These are:

- HERITAGE Research Cluster, with the involvement of 24 researchers from 8 Faculties and an
Institute.

- Evaluating the behaviour over the megalithic Temples of Malta through deterioration
studies Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling, with Prof. Daniel Micallef from the
Department of Environmental Design

- UrbanClimate, with Prof. Charles Galdies from the Institute of Earth Systems.

- Conservation of the wall paintings at the Church of Hal Millieri, with Din l-Art Helwa.
Jennifer Porter, Project Co-ordinator.

- Conservation of the Nymphaeum at the Argotti Gardens, with RIST funding (MTA sponsor).
Jennifer Porter, Project Co-ordinator.