Dean of Science Awards

The Dean's Awards for excellence in the Natural Sciences and Mathematics started in 1995 and is now an established tradition.

At this year's ceremony, Faculty of Science dean Professor Charles V. Sammut presented awards to 12 students placing first, second and third in each of the four years of the B.Sc. (Hons) course during academic year 2006/2007.

The first year students were Paul Herrera (Biology and Chemistry), Andrew Mifsud (Maths and Physics) and Marika Sciriha (Maths and Statistics and Operations Research).

The second year students were Annelyse Bartolo (Biology and Chemistry), Chantelle Said (Maths and Physics), and Alan Tua (Maths and Physics).

The third year students were Michela Degeatano (Maths and Physics), Teresa Fiorini (Biology and Chemistry) and Elizabeth Aquilina (Maths and Physics).

The fourth year students were Julian Evans (Biology and Chemistry), Adam Pierre Gauci (Computer Science and A.I. and Physics) and Andre' Xuereb (Maths and Physics).

In congratulating the students for their achievements, Prof. Sammut said that this year marked the 93rd year since the faculty was established and that was the first time in the past 40 years when substantial funding has been confirmed.

The faculty's academics have submitted proposals for ERDF funds and have secured over €2 million to upgrade laboratory facilities at the Departments of Biology and Chemistry and to set up a new research laboratory for electromagnetics at the Department of Physics.

The Faculty is actively seeking further EU funding and has submitted proposals for the second stage. Academics Faculty have been awarded local funding for specific research projects in collaboration with industry, at the European level from FP6, in collaboration with other universities, research institutes and industry, and some are applying for FP7 funding.

The significance of the faculty at the national and international levels continues to grow.

However, although there has been some increase in the number of students following science courses, the number needs to increase further to enable Malta to meet the Lisbon Criteria, where sadly the number of researchers lags behind.

Now that the Faculty is constructing new research facilities, academics hope to be able to retain some of the better students to work on projects, the funding for which is actively being sought.

Students are encouraged to study beyond their first degree if they intend to pursue a career in science. Research offers an interesting, challenging and rewarding profession in itself that will greatly improve a person's outlook and professional development.

The event was sponsored by StarPharma Ltd, Technoline Ltd, Agenda Bookshop and Mepa. Professpr Sammut thanked these organisations for their valuable support.