Institute plans journal, seeks members

The Malta Institute of Cultural Studies (MIOCS) is planning to launch a six-monthly Journal of the Monastic Military Orders next year and hold a series of lectures and cultural tours locally and possibly abroad focusing on Maltese history, the Crusades and Monastic Military Orders.

Membership in the private organisation, which is dedicated to publishing, academia and related cultural activities, is now open for an initial annual fee of €120. Members will be entitled to receive two free editions of the journal by post, 10 per cent discounts on MIOCS publications, such as Of Craft and Honour and A Templar's Chronicles, which won the Malta National Book Award 2006 in the foreign book section.

Fifty per cent of the institute's profits will go to charitable, academic and cultural institutions such as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), the Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, the University of Malta and other philanthropic institutions.

More than 30 postgraduate students are enrolled on a Master of Arts in Hospitaller Studies sponsored by MIOCS at the University and in January they will be sitting their first semester examination.

For further information e-mail info@miocs.org or visit http://miocs.org/ .