Event: MAKS Research Seminars - Blockchain, Self-Sovereign Identity and Digital Credentials: Promise versus Praxis for Higher Education
Date: Wednesday 24 March 2021
Time: 12:15
Venue: Online ()
Speaker: Dr Alex Grech
This research webinar will be hosted by the Department of Media & Communications. It is the latest instalment of the MAKS research seminar series.
The webinar will start at 12:15 via , and an informal discussion will ensue.
The seminar will lever on the findings of the ongoing Horizon 2020 project and ongoing research and praxis to determine if the blockchain has relevance to the higher education sector and learners in 2021.
Dr Alex Grech is a strategist, change consultant and academic; the founding Director of the ; and a Lecturer at the University of Malta within the Faculty of Media & Knowledge Sciences. He has advised multinationals, governments, NGOs and start-ups in sectors ranging from ICT and neurosciences to culture and education. In his early career, Alex worked for multinationals including Reuters and Hitachi Data Systems. In the past decade, Alex has specialised in EdTech and disruptive technologies, 21st century skills agendas and lifelong learning.
He has published research, reports and policy documents for governments, the European Commission, the ILO, UNESCO and the Mastercard Foundation, among others. He is an expert on the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum and on the EU ET2020 working group on digital education; a board member of the Centre for Distributed Ledger Technologies at the University of Malta; and a consultant to the European Commission on the project.
Alex coordinated the nation-state blockchain credentials pilot in Malta, which became an international model of best practice for small states and the research community. He holds a PhD in Internet Computing from the University of Hull and is an FCCA by profession. Alex teaches study units on new media literacy at the University of Malta and is a senior advisor to the Ministry for Foreign & European Affairs on digital media literacy and cyber diplomacy. Alex's ongoing research interests are in digital citizenship, blockchain & digital identity, new media and the attention economy.
