On Thursday 4 July 2024, the Australian High Commissioner to Malta, H.E. Matt Skelly, paid a visit to the Msida University of Malta Campus, more specifically the labs of the Oceanography Malta Research Group within the Department of Geosciences of the Faculty of Science,, in order to learn more about their ongoing projects and activities.
The Commissioner has an avid interest in anything marine and oceanography, and this is clear from the frequent endorsement of initiatives working to protect the marine environment.
On World Environment Day, the Australian High Commission also funded the screening of the Blueback film at St James Cavalier.
The occasion started with a visit to the SEA-EU Hut. Prof. Alan Deidun, Professor at the Department of Geosciences, Rector’s Delegate on the SEA-EU Alliance, and the Coordinator of the M.Sc. in Applied Oceanography, gave H.E. Skelly a rundown of the University of Malta’s role in European Universities Initiative which started in 2019 with six allied Universities, including the University of Malta, and which since then has expanded to nine universities that have been working incessantly towards a number of ambitious objectives, such as the offering of joint degree programmes, and increased student mobility within Europe.
Following that brief explanation, H.E. Skelly proceeded to be warmly welcomed to the Department of Geosciences by the Head of Department Prof. Sebastiano D’Amico and then got a tour of the Geosciences Department facilities. He met this year’s cohort of M.Sc. in Applied Oceanography students, who were analysing sediment and biological samples collected earlier in the year, he visited the OMRG offices where he got a graphical representation of some of the data collected by Group, then he got a glimpse of the equipment repository, and got a thorough view of the digital outreach equipment currently stationed throughout the Department, including the interactive kiosk, the LED banner and Pepper the humanoid robot.
The visit was concluded through a presentation of SEA-EU and Oceanography-themed material produced over the years, especially through the four different citizen science campaigns managed by the same research group, such as the Spot the Jellyfish and the Spot the Alien Fish ones.
Senior lecturers Dr Adam Gauci and Dr Anthony Galea, scientific officer Ms Audrey Zammit and Research Support Officer Mr David Montano, also based within the OMRG of the Department of Geosciences, further elaborated on the various research and teaching initiatives embarked upon by the same research group.
“It’s been an honour to welcome H.E. Skelly to UM and show him around, giving him the latest updates on all things marine, and it’s a relief to see that our priorities align in terms of advocating for our marine environment”, said Prof. Deidun about the visit.
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