Members of the UM academia were among the seven people who were appointed to the National Order of Merit and the ten others who received a Midalja għall-Qadi tar-Repubblika on Wednesday 13 December 2023 during the annual honours list ceremony.
These honours are presented each year to individuals who “distinguish themselves in their fields of endeavour”.
- Prof. Stanley Fiorini, a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Maltese Studies, was appointed as Officer of the National Order of Merit. His interest in Maltese history led him to research the subject in local and foreign archives. His work has been published in seventeen volumes of the series Documentary Sources of Maltese History. These documents, and others, are used for reference by other historians.
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- Dr Ruth Farrugia, Visiting Senior Lecturer at the Department of Civil Law within the Faculty of Laws, and former coordinator of the University of Malta Human Rights Platform, was appointed a Member of the National Order of Merit. Between 2014 and 2019, Dr Farrugia served as Director General of the President’s Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society, and has, over the span of her career, consulates ministries and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees Office in Malta.
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- Dr Robert G. Xuereb, Visiting Senior Lecturer at the Department of Medicine within the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, a pioneer in cardiology in Malta, was also appointed a Member of the National Order of Merit. Dr Xuereb was instrumental in the establishment of the first-ever cardiology services in Malta in the early 1990’s, and in the introduction of numerous innovations in the care of cardiac patients. He is the current chairperson of the Department of Cardiology of Mater Dei Hospital, served as president of the Maltese Cardiac Society between 2013 - 2023 and was a nominating committee member on the governing board of the European Society of Cardiology between 2020 and 2022.
![eleanor bezzina](https://www.um.edu.mt/__data/assets/image/0008/520919/varieties/banner5.png)
- Ms Eleanor Bezzina, Assistant Registrar at the Office of the Registrar, received the Midalja għall-Qadi tar-Repubblika on behalf of Maltese athletes at the Games of the Small States of Europe (GSSE), hosted in Malta earlier this year. Malta has achieved a record number of medals during the 19th edition of GSSE, with the team led by captain Bezzina clinching 38 gold, 30 silver and 29 bronze medals, crowning them champions among the nine countries participating.
The Faculty for Social Wellbeing also posted online their congratulations to alumna Ms Pamela Muscat, the Honorary President of ADHD Malta, who also received the Midalja għall-Qadi tar-Repubblika.
The full list of awardees is available on the President’s website and in the post below.