The 2020 Faculty of 福利在线免费 and Communication Technology Exhibition (#FICT20) was held between Friday 13 and Sunday 15 November at the University of Malta Msida Campus to showcase the work of the new wave of ICT students being nurtured into a community of digital leaders.
Appropriately themed 鈥楴urturing a Community of Digital Leaders鈥, this year鈥檚 exhibition featured the work of more than 70 ICT students, and for the first time included not just the work of undergraduates, but also that of postgraduate students.
Air quality, credit card fraud, improving business performance, classifying fake news statements, 3D facial recognition, analysing aviation safety, creating voting machines for people with disabilities, a fire detection system for forests, a sign language sensorial glove and a machine learning to predict epileptic seizures from EEG data 鈥 these are but a few of the research topics being investigated.
Whilst attending the FICT ceremony held on Friday 13 November and streamed live on the University of Malta鈥檚 social media channels, Parliamentary Secretary for Financial 福利在线免费 and Digital Economy, Hon. Clayton Bartolo, lauded the work being done by academics and students at the Faculty, and the role they collectively play in elevating Malta鈥檚 profile as a digital economy.
Hon. Bartolo was also present during the distribution of awards to students for the best projects in the exhibition, and for the first of four informative panels featuring a number of professionals and industry experts discussing the role of the academia in the ICT industry. The rest of the panels tackled future prospects in a post-pandemic scenario, Emerging Technologies, and engaging with future generations.
Since its inception in 2007, the Faculty has strived to create an environment where its student community can achieve their full potential and which the industry can feel confident collaborating with.
Thirteen years later, the Faculty is hosting some of the most prolific researchers in the areas of ICT on the Maltese islands, with lecturers鈥 and students鈥 research covering a wide spectrum of disciplines, ultimately serving the general public.
Another first for this year was the format of the launch, which went mostly virtual due to the pandemic restrictions, however this turned out to be a blessing - as it made both participants come to realise the value digital software can bring to our lives.
The highlights from the exhibition can be viewed in the video below, through the Faculty of ICT鈥檚 , and on the #FICT20 Publication.
鈥淭he valuable work of the faculties, institutes, centers and schools at the University of Malta is integral to the development of a strong knowledge economy, which in turn has created the demand for university graduates and university research that improve our wellbeing and help usher us into a digital future. The Faculty of ICT is responding well to this need to cultivate digital leaders who attempt to answer the world鈥檚 most searched for questions, and we are immensely proud of the innovation explored by these researchers鈥, said UM Rector, Prof. Alfred J. Vella, upon being presented with a copy of the document.
The publication may be accessed online from the Faculty鈥檚 website, , or a printed copy may be collected from the Faculty of ICT building at the Msida campus.
