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IOI Elisabeth Mann Borgese Bursary 2024

The International Ocean Institute (IOI) is once again offering the Elisabeth Mann Borgese Bursary (EMB Bursary) consisting of a sum of 3,500 Euro which may be used in furthering research studies over the period of a year.

The Bursary will be awarded to one person/research team carrying out postgraduate studies/research in ocean/marine/maritime related studies at the University of Malta. Staff or students are to be registered with the University of Malta where research in the relevant fields is carried out.

The EMB Bursary was established by the International Ocean Institute as a means of demonstrating recognition to the host country of the IOI – Malta – for hosting the IOI Headquarters and providing facilities for staff and offices. The Bursary also constitutes a further recognition and acknowledgement of the role of Prof. E. Mann Borgese, founder of IOI, and of her considerable achievements; the Bursary is financed through the IOI. 

The application form is available online. For further questions, please contact IOI Headquarters via email. The application deadline is Sunday 28 July 2024.

Previous winners of the EMB Bursary since 2010 have worked on diverse research areas in geography, conservation genetics, maritime law, engineering, and studies of environment stressors within the scope of marine and maritime related studies at the University of Malta.

Past work has focussed on:

  • proposed stakeholder managed Marine Protected Areas in Malta
  • the determination of genetic data on the bluntnose six-gill shark for species preservation
  • the concept of State of Disembarkation in the context of migration law and its links to principles in UNCLOS
  • a study on renewable energy using ocean thermocline energy extraction
  • research on the influence of tuna penning activities on macrofaunal assemblages
  • microplastics in the Mediterranean Sea
  • application of MSP methodologies to deliver the first comprehensive marine spatial plan for Malta’s territorial waters
  • the mapping and characterising the subtidal Dendropoma cristatum bioconstructions present along cliff shores
  • a preliminary quantitative and qualitive investigation of microplastics sampled from Maltese nearshore waters.
The most recent award funded an investigation on the anti-fouling performance of a novel PMMA/TiO2 nanocomposite coating for maritime applications.


The International Ocean Institute was founded in 1972 by Elisabeth Mann Borgese as an international knowledge-based institution, devoted to the sustainable governance of the oceans. It operates through a large network of Operational Centres and Focal Points globally, with its Headquarters hosted by the Government of Malta at the premises of the University of Malta. The mission of the International Ocean Institute is to promote education, training and research to enhance the peaceful uses of ocean space and its resources, their management and regulation as well as the protection and conservation of the marine environment, guided by the principle of the Common Heritage of Mankind as enshrined in the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea for the benefit of humankind as a whole, with particular consideration of the poor.

Over the years, the University of Malta has given much importance to matters concerning the sea. Academic work includes the areas of governance, law and science as well as sustainability and education. Moreover, the University is host to the IMO International Maritime Law Institute, established under the auspices of the International Maritime Organization, a specialised agency of the United Nations. 

Elisabeth Mann Borgese (24 April 1918 - 8 February 2002), founded the IOI in 1972. Arvid Pardo (12 February  1914 - 19 June 1999) – a close collaborator of Elisabeth Mann Borgese – was a Maltese diplomat, scholar, and university professor and known internationally for his work to reform the law of the sea. He proposed that the seabed constitutes part of the common heritage of mankind, a phrase that appears in Article 136 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Malta is the host country of the International Ocean Institute Headquarters. As an island state straddling the centre of the Mediterranean Sea it has a long history of dependence on the sea as well as a strong tradition of maritime, fishing and seafaring occupation. Its membership of the European Union confers on it an obligation to adhere to the European maritime and fishing policies as well as conventions and regulations which are global in scope.

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