Professor Godfrey Baldacchino is the co-applicant of a successful Partnership Development Grant application of Can$200,000 to the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada, for the SIGNS project, studying small island governance in both sovereign and non-sovereign island jurisdictions. The project will build relationships between researchers and will fund up to twelve postgraduate students.

The 3-year project will develop a set of measures of sustainability and sovereignty by undertaking household and focus group surveys using comparisons of six pairs of islands. The Institute of Island Studies at the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI), in Charlottetown, Canada, will coordinate these activities, bringing together island researchers and solving issues using a local-to-global integrated approach. 

A 2-day workshop to launch SIGNS was held at UPEI over 7-8 September in Canada.  Photo shows workshop participants. From left: Prof. Godfrey Baldacchino (Malta), Dr Pia Hansson (Iceland), Ms Margaret Paterson (UPEI), Ms Kimberly Wishart Chu Foon (UPEI), Dr John Telesford (Grenada), Prof. Ioannis Spilanis (Greece [on video]), Dr Gerard Prinsen (New Zealand), Dr Patrick Watson (Trinidad & Tobago), Prof. Rob Greenwood (Newfoundland, Canada), Dr Laurie Brinklow (UPEI) and Prof. Robert Gilmour (Vice-President, Academic & Research, UPEI). Missing from photo is SIGNS Principal Investigator, Prof. Jim Randall (UPEI).

Professors Baldacchino and Randall share a UNESCO Chair in Island Studies and Sustainability, held at UPEI in association with the University of Malta, since 2016.