Dr Hector Fenech
Dr. Hector Fenech
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I have always been interested in communications. Even when I was in school, I enjoyed building radios. My father was a radio technician. I’m sure that helped. I soon started designing my own circuits. During my Masters in Eindhoven, I started thinking about satellite communications.
After Eindhoven, I specialised in satellite communication during a research assistantship in Bradford, UK. That led to joining Ferranti International climbing the ranks to become the Head of the Satellite Communication Systems Group. After this experience I joined Eutelsat, ultimately becoming the Director of Future Satellite Systems.
Looking back, I initially felt my undergraduate course in Malta was too broad however, I swiftly realised that I was also into engineering. When I received my Masters scholarship, I quickly found my degree to be a solid foundation. In Bradford, when pursuing my Ph.D., I felt that was what engineering was all about: spot a problem and let your imagination run free until you find a solution. In a way, this system engineering approach can serve as a life philosophy.
In 1998, the International Telecommunication Union organised the World Telecommunication Development Conference in Malta. Jean Grenier (Director General, Eutelsat) asked me to set up a meeting with Maltacom. That meeting established a relationship with Tony Mejlaq and Prof. Saviour Zammit. This encounter proved key to later establishing WINS, a Maltese joint venture to provide satellite communication services to ships.
In 2004, I was involved with the TWISTER Study: (Terrestrial Wireless Infrastructure integrated with Satellite Telecommunication for e-Rural), a three-year EU funded project (FP6) meant to deploy satellite broadband communication solutions for rural areas. The €8.5m project was led by Airbus Defence and Space. Saviour and I worked on establishing a Ka-band satellite link between Malta and Gozo. This produced a virtual lecture room in Gozo so Gozitan students could follow lectures from Malta in an interactive fashion. In 2007, I started giving a short course on Satellite Communications at the UoM.
You need to be passionate about your career. Then life will be fun. There is so much to be learned. A degree is only a passport, not the end goal.