THE
LUMINARY
UNIVERSIT Y OF MALTA ALUMNI NEWSLET TER
www.um.edu.mt/alumni
JUNE 2015
Photo: DOI - Clifton Fenech
The President visits UoM’s
TAKEOFF Business Incubator
The President of Malta, H.E. Marie
Louise Coleiro Preca recently
visited the University of Malta’s
TAKEOFF Business Incubator where
the Rector, Professor Juanito
Camilleri, explained the vision of the
University for the Incubator. H.E.
was also given an overview of the
Centre for Entrepreneurship and
Business Incubation, the Edward
de Bono Institute and the Climate
Launchpad cleantech initiative.
Female
Entrepreneurship
and
Social Entrepreneurship were also
discussed.
During a tour of TAKEOFF, the
President was introduced to some
of the start-ups at the Incubator,
including LawSWOT, an Academic
Social Network for law students,
Contribute Water, a social enterprise,
and ChildHud, a social network
whereby families can safely share
their family memories and pictures.
“Although TAKEOFF is just over
one year old, we have a portfolio of
16 start-ups at various stages of the
incubation process and demand from
talented individuals approaching
us to start-up their ventures is
ever increasing” said Professor
Camilleri. “In the past months, we
have brought on board a group of
experienced mentors who provide
specific guidance and advice to our
start-ups. We are positive that in
time a number of these ventures will
succeed and grow and this will have a
positive effect on the local economy.”
The TAKEOFF Business Incubator
at the University of Malta helps
technology and knowledge-based
start-ups transform their ideas into
investor-ready and market-ready
businesses. THE
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JUNE 2015
Collaboration on Clinical Gait
and Motion Analysis
The University of Malta’s Department of Systems
and Control Engineering, its Centre for Biomedical
Cybernetics and the Department of Health have signed
a collaborative agreement on clinical gait and motion
analysis.
The Biomedical Engineering Laboratory at the
University houses a state-of-the-art motion capture
system that allows for the precise measurement of
human motion. This has many uses, ranging from
scientific human motion study to film and game
animation, with one main application being the clinical
assessment of patients with motion problems. Until now,
Maltese patients suffering from selected neuromuscular
conditions have had to be assessed abroad to plan
surgical interventions intended to improve these
patients’ gait.
The collaboration aims to establish excellence in
clinical gait and motion analysis, provide an opportunity
for clinical practitioners from the Department of
Health to practise and obtain experience working on
an advanced state-of-the-art motion analysis system
and to provide an opportunity for clinical practitioners,
academics and technical personnel to work together
in an interdisciplinary team. This collaboration will
open up possibilities to work on interdisciplinary
research projects involving the clinical and technical
disciplines, establish normative baseline gait data
for the Maltese population and provide clinical gait
analysis for the medically indicated patients who,
to date, had been required to go abroad for such
an analysis.
This initiative led by Professor Ing. Kenneth P.
Camilleri found ample support from the University
and was realised through the continuous liaison with
orthopaedic surgeon, Mr Charles Grixti, advisor to the
Ministry for Energy and Health.
THE
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JUNE 2015
Exciting New Masters
in Film Studies
Students will be introduced to the key moments in
the history of cinema and the principal interpretive
approaches to film, to be explored in relation to
specific genres, auteurs, contexts of production as
well as spectatorship. The programme will also provide
students with the necessary techniques to successfully
plan and shoot a short film and to develop it in all of its
stages from the script to the screen.
The programme consists of five compulsory units, a
choice of elective units, and a dissertation, or, when
possible, a placement. The compulsory units will cover
transitional moments in the history of film, research
methods, screenwriting, and the production of a short
film. Elective modules will allow participants to follow
specific areas of study which include the following:
world cinema; auteur theory; comics, the graphic
novel and cinema; location-based filming; the rapport
between film, literature and the other Arts; and audiovisual translation strategies. The dissertation offers
students the opportunity to undertake independent
research and to produce work of a high academic
standard. Alternatively, the placement offers students
the experience of working within a media company.
Because of the programme’s unique combination
of theory and practice, enrolment will be open to a
maximum of 15 students. This will ensure one-to-one
supervision.
By offering a broad understanding of how film has
developed over the years, the theoretical component
will train students how to read individual films within a
precise historical context and as part of an intricate web
of intertextual and cultural relationships.
The programme will also provide participants with a
broad overview of how to create an innovative story
and to plan its treatment in all the necessary stages
from the page to the screen. After having become
acquainted with the basic narratorial strategies of
scriptwriting, students will be introduced to the practical
aspects of film, which include the structuring, the previsualization, and the actual shooting of a screenplay
as well as its production and post-production. For
further information access http://www.um.edu.mt/arts/
overview/PMAFLMPET5-2015-6-O
Gearing up for
South Korea
Second only to the Olympic Games, the Universiades are
an international sporting and cultural festival, staged
every two years during summer in a different city. Taking
place over a period of twelve days, Universiades consist
of ten compulsory sports with thirteen compulsory
disciplines and up to three optional sports chosen by
the host country.
UoM’s Team will be made up of Nicola Muscat,
Edward Caruana Dingli, Matthew Zammit, Matthew
Galea, Daniel Galea, Shanice Cassar (Swimming),
Andrew Gambina (Table-Tennis), Isaac Bezzina (Judo)
and Luke Bezzina, Daniel Saliba, Ian Grech (Athletics).
The contingent will be led by Elena Bajada as the
Head of Delegation, while Madeleine Fenech and Clara
Castillo, will act as Deputy Heads of Delegation and
Rhea Cutajar as Headquarters and Flights Manager.
Athlete Daniel Saliba has been selected as Malta’s flagbearer for the opening ceremony.
Kunsill Malti Għall-Isport (KMS) Vice-Chairman Mark
Cutajar, University Pro Rector, Professor Richard
Muscat, and the Opposition’s Speaker for Local
Government, Youth and Sports, David Agius, all augured
the participants every success in the forthcoming
Universiades edition.
Embracing the International University Sports Federation’s (FISU) motto of ‘Excellence in Mind and Body’, the
Universiades allow over 9,000 university student-athletes
from over 170 countries to celebrate with the host city in
a true spirit of friendship and sportsmanship. The events
are broadcast on over 100 TV channels.
This newsletter is published by the Communications and Alumni
Relations Office within the University of Malta.
All Rights Reserved 2015