Historical Heritage and Traditional Crafts
11:25 - 13:05 | Meeting Room 101 (Level 1)
Chair: Dr In摹. John Charles Betts
Mr Matthew Grima
Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
Ancient glass from the central Mediterranean represents far more than artistic expression; it embodies some of humanity’s earliest achievements in materials engineering. This study applies a reverse-engineering approach to archaeological glass from Malta spanning the Phoenician, Roman, and later periods to reconstruct the raw materials, technological choices, and furnace conditions used by ancient glassmakers. Rather than treating glass solely as a finished artefact, each object is treated as a chemical and structural record of its production process.
A suite of modern analytical techniques was used to deconstruct glass into its constituent sand sources, fluxes, stabilisers, and additives. Element composition, molecular structure, oxidation states of colouring elements, and microstructural features provide insight into melting temperatures, furnace atmospheres, and raw material provenance. This data enables the reconstruction of complete production sequences and reveals technological transitions, including the shift from natron-based to plant-ash fluxes.
The results demonstrate that ancient glassmakers deliberately controlled chemistry, temperature, and redox conditions to achieve predictable colours and material properties. Evidence for intentional manipulation of furnace atmospheres highlights a sophisticated empirical understanding of materials behaviour. This study argues that ancient glass artisans were effectively engineers, preserving technological knowledge that underpins modern glassmaking practices.
Ms Michela Debono
The Edward de Bono Institute for Creative Thinking and Innovation
Pedagogies of the Possible, a concept developed in contemporary educational research by Ronald A. Beghetto and Vlad P. Gl膬veanu, refers to teaching and learning approaches that intentionally create space for creativity, possibility thinking, and transformative educational experiences. Grounded in this theoretical framework, the present research explores how traditional Maltese trades and crafts are practised today and examines innovative ways in which these practices may be revitalised for present and future generations through the application of Pedagogies of the Possible.
The aims of the study are to focus on Pedagogies of the Possible to explore how Maltese trades, as integral components of the island’s cultural heritage, could be sustainable and further developed. This is aimed at unfolding by focusing on the cultural-psychological dimensions of craft practices. It seeks to uncover how individuals experience and engage with traditional trades differently, whether as skilled artisans, hobbyists, or observers, and how these varied perspectives contribute to the preservation or transformation of these practices.
With a specific focus on lacemaking, this presentation introduces a proposed conceptual framework illustrating how Pedagogies of the Possible may support the transmission, reinterpretation, and long-term sustainability of this traditional practice as a living and evolving form of cultural expression. Lacemaking serves as a case study through which educational, creative, and cultural pathways for revitalising Maltese trades are critically examined, highlighting their potential relevance within contemporary learning contexts and creative economies.
Ms Margerita Pulè
Department of Digital Arts, Faculty of Media and Knowledge Sciences
The Horizon project IMPULSE aims to develop solutions, methods, and recommendations for the digitisation of digital cultural heritage collections, leading to increased accessibility, through their innovative (re)use, particularly in novel contexts like the Metaverse.
While the IMPULSE project addresses many aspects of the digitisation of heritage artefacts - including standardisation procedures, and the adaptation of legal frameworks - this paper focuses specifically on teaching and learning, and collaborative aspects of engaging with digital cultural heritage with the aim of leading to co-creation, collaboration and co-learning.
Building upon data gathered during online and offline workshops, hackathons, and collaborative prototype-building undertaken with the IMPULSE target communities at a local and institutional level, and making use of varied digital asset sets, the research explores how audiences engage with cultural heritage, and how interaction on the virtual platform developed by the project can enhance engagement and minimise top-down methodologies.
Digital artefacts include assets held by the project partners, including Heritage Malta and the Magna 呕mien Foundation in Malta, Jagiellonian University in Poland, and KU Leuven in Belgium.
Research questions revolve around how audiences engage with cultural heritage, how collaborative and socially engaged experiences in XR technologies can challenge dominant narratives and if the representation of marginalised cultures or positionalities within heritage can be increased through XR technology.
Data already gathered highlights varied relationships and needs of users with regard to heritage artefacts within XR technologies, and a diversity in their understanding of how heritage objects should be utilised to create meaning.
Further workshops and hackathons in February and May 2026 will build upon this iterative process to further develop methodologies and recommendations.
Perit Charlene Jo Darmanin
Department of Construction and Property Management, Faculty for the Built Environment
The protection of built heritage is fundamentally shaped by the values its society attributes to it. In Malta, recent exponential population growth and intensified development pressures have placed increasing strain on the urban fabric, frequently pitting built heritage against competing economic and spatial agendas. Despite this, the perspectives and priorities of diverse and expanding local communities often remain marginal within heritage-related decision-making processes. Public perceptions remain under-researched and underutilised in heritage governance. This study investigates the public perceptions of Malta's built and urban heritage within a rapidly changing socio-demographic context. It examines how demographic variables - age, gender, education, occupation, ethnicities, religious beliefs, geographical location – influence attitudes towards heritage protection and preferences for different heritage typologies. The research also explores public understandings of the social and urban benefits associated with heritage protection. Data was collected through the dissemination of a survey across demographic groups in Malta, and analysed to identify patterns and divergences in heritage values. The findings reveal significant variations in perceptions of heritage importance and benefit, underscoring the need for more inclusive and participatory approaches to heritage governance. It also indicates the need for targeted educational strategies on more subtle typologies of heritage, highlighting their importance for protection. The study indicates that meaningful public engagement is vital for informing sustainable heritage management policies that reflect diverse societal values and contribute to urban well-being.
Ms Claudia Aloisio
Institute of Maltese Studies
Impacting the fields of education, criminology and history, this interdisciplinary research explores prison education in twentieth-century British Malta. Local research has been conducted on Corradino Civil Prison during British colonial times; however, education is barely mentioned and only within the welfare section. This study delves into the history of educating prisoners at Corradino and aims to construct the very first picture from existing evidence of this social and educational phenomenon in the National Archives of Malta. The newly consulted Prison School Records (1930s–1970s) are interrogated from a critical and postcolonial stance, observant also of anthropological elements, a theoretical framework applied in tandem with the researcher’s bespoke conceptual framework. A methodological framework structured along the lines of Saunders et al.’s research onion explains how this historical archival research was conducted, using a qualitative inductive approach and critical document analysis. Institutional educational practices are unveiled, shedding light on Corradino’s curriculum, pedagogy and resources. Power structures, dynamics and relations are exposed with a view to discerning whether education was utilised as a colonial tool or as a genuine means to prisoner rehabilitation. This study reveals new insights into the type of education imparted, the ethos of the prison school, and how education inside prison was shaped by the cultural, political and socio-economic context outside prison. This research presents the local setting of prison education in the then British colony of Malta, but engages with international research that presents other historical settings, in both the UK and others of its colonies, for wide-ranging comparison and contrast.