Simone Vella Lenicker graduated B.E.&A. (Hons) from the University of Malta in 1999. She has been at AP Valletta (formerly Architecture Project) since 2006, and is now Design Director - Planning and Valuations. Last January, she took on the role of President of the Kamra tal-Periti (Chamber of Architects & Civil Engineers, Malta) after having served on the Council since 2006, and holding various posts including those of Vice President, Honorary Secretary and Editor of the quarterly journal ‘the Architect’. Simone is a Member of the Building Regulation Board and of the Planning Authority’s Users’ Committee, as well as a Member of the Building Industry Consultative Council Advisory Board. She is also a Member of the Church Commission for Justice and Peace, a speaker for Catholic Voices, and a contributor to the Newsbook blog.

Professor Charles Scerri Ph.D. is a graduate from the University of Dundee in Scotland and lectures neuropharmacology and dementia studies at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Malta. He is the Chairperson of the Malta Dementia Society, Chairperson of the National Dementia Working Group, Vice-Chair of Alzheimer Europe and National Focal Point on Dementia in Malta. He is also a member of the European Union Joint Progamme for Neurodegenerative Diseases (JPND) Scientific Advisory Board and Early Detection and Timely Intervention in Dementia Group (INTERDEM). Other academic involvement includes expert evaluator for the EU Horizon 2020  research and innovation programme, invited talks to international conferences and journal reviewer to various peer-reviewed publications. Amongst his latest publications is the national dementia strategy document Empowering change: A National Strategy for Dementia in the Maltese Islands (2015-2023) and the edited book (2015, Malta University Press) Population Ageing in Malta: Multidisciplinary Perspective.

Rhoda Gharland was born in the UK in 1969 with Spina Bifida. She is a qualified accountant, working as a business analyst until she moved to Malta in 2006. After reading for a Master’s degree in Disability Studies she was asked by the Parliamentary Secretariat for the Rights of Persons with Disability and Active Aging to research and write the first State report to the United Nations regarding compliance with the UNCRPD. Following this role she moved to the Commission for the Rights of Persons with Disability, as a consultant and was given the position of Executive Director in 2015. This role includes managing the operations at the Commission as well as dealing with social policy issues and the planning of disability related legislation. She has just embarked on a PhD entitled ‘Disability, activism and engagement with politics’. In her spare time Rhoda enjoys sports including wheelchair basketball and rugby and also scuba diving.   

Gabi Calleja is the Head of the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics (SOGIGESC) Unit within the Human Rights and Integration Directorate within the Ministry for European Affairs and Equality. She also serves as the Chair of Malta's LGBTIQ Consultative Council since January 2015. She was the Coordinator of the Malta LGBTIQ Rights Movement between 2007 and June 2018 and has been involved in advocacy work, training, awareness raising and support to the LGBTIQ community since 2003. She served on the ILG-Europe executive board between 2010 and 2014, three of those years as co-chair. Gabi Calleja read for a Masters in Youth and Community Studies from the University of Malta and is a warranted teacher and Youth and Community Worker.

 

Dr Ruth Farrugia is an advocate, lecturer and coordinator of the University of Malta Human Rights Programme as well as Director General of the President’s Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society. Ruth is a former consultant to the deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Social Policy, the Minister for Family, the Social Affairs Committee in Parliament, and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees Office in Malta. She has contributed to a number of local, regional and international boards and locally chaired the Children and Young Persons Care Orders Board and the National Commission for Child Policy and Strategy. She has drafted guidelines and legislation regarding children and equality rights both locally and abroad and has published widely in the field of family, child rights and human rights law.