Prof. Ing. Simon G. Fabri received the Bachelors in Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Malta in 1989, and the MSc and PhD degrees in Control Systems Engineering from the University of Sheffield in 1995 and 2000 respectively. He was employed as a Test and Product Engineer with STMicroelectronics Ltd from 1989 to 1992. He then joined the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Malta where he currently holds the position of Associate Professor with the Department of Systems and Control Engineering. Simon’s administrative experience at the University of Malta includes past headship of the Department of Electrical Power and Control Engineering and the Department of Systems and Control Engineering, as well as Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and membership of several University boards and committees.

Prof. Ing. Fabri coordinated an R&I project funded by MCST on “Computational Intelligence Techniques for Control of Complex Systems”, under the 2004 programme (project ref. no. R&I-2004-026). This project was aimed at developing robotic systems that are able to learn and autonomously adapt themselves to changing environments. Novel contributions from this research have been presented at several international conferences and seven papers have been published in peer-reviewed conference proceedings. Simon was also involved in another R&I project funded by MCST, titled “Solar Hot Water Controller so as to Automatically Control the Use of Electrical Energy Through the Use of Back-up Heater in Inclement Weather, Thereby Reducing Energy Consumption and CO2 Release”, under the R&I 2008 programme (project ref. no. R&I-2008-026). This project, which was run in close collaboration with local industries operating in the energy management and solar energy sectors, developed an intelligent and autonomous controller aimed at reducing electrical energy consumption in solar water heaters when the temperature needs to be boosted by electrical power in order to meet typical domestic demand for hot water. Simon is also, involved in the SPEECHIE project, aimed at developing a smart toy to support children with language impairment (www.speechieproject.com). Simon’s role is to provide expertise in the development of robust speech recognition algorithm.

Simon’s current research interests include adaptive and intelligent control, neural networks, nonlinear and stochastic control, systems theory, bioengineering and robotics. He is an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Systems Science, co-author of the Springer book “Functional Adaptive Control: An intelligent system approach”, and author of numerous papers published in peer-reviewed international journals and conference proceedings.

Simon is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Malta representative on the Administrative Council of the European Control Association (EUCA) and member of the Government Engineering Profession Board. Further details on his publications are available at: http://www.um.edu.mt/staff/simon.fabri/p

Roles/duties in the project: To manage research issues related to control systems. Liaise with industrial partner. Attends project internal meetings and consortium meetings.  Assists project principal investigator. Provides expertise in developing and testing the required control systems algorithm.