The first students to complete the University of Malta’s MSc in Applied Oceanography are Sara Baldwin, Denise Desira, Hazel Farrugia and Nicole Scerri. They were also the first graduates of the course, which is run by the Faculty of Science’s Department of Geosciences.

Baldwin’s dissertation was entitled ‘Route optimisation for offshore class boat races in the Central Mediterranean’; Desira’s was on ‘Coastal water mixing around the Maltese islands using the Rosario-SHYFEM model’; Farrugia’s was called ‘Water quality monitoring in the Maltese islands through the computation of the CSI023(+) and TRIX indices using satellite data’; and Scerri’s was on ‘The risk of earthquake- and submarine landslide-generated tsunami hazards in the Maltese islands’.

The MSc is a one-year, full-time course that runs over three consecutive semesters. It also includes a one-week boot camp, during which students take part in practical field deployment of instrumentation and analyse and interpret data collected.

The course aims to train students and professionals on state-of-the-art methodologies and tools to measure, understand and predict the marine environment, and derive sustained benefits from the sea.

It is offered by the department’s Physical Oceanography Research Group, whose resident academics are Aldo Drago, who is also the course director, Alan Deidun, Anthony Galea and Adam Gauci. Foreign experts in operational oceanography also deliver lectures as part of the course.

For further information visit the website below.

https://www.um.edu.mt/science/physicaloceanography/msc