Malta University, Cultural Heritage Protection and Materials Facilities

The island of Malta has been inhabited from around 5900 BC. Its location in the centre of the Mediterranean has historically given it great strategic importance as a naval base, with a succession of powers having contested and ruled the islands, including the Phoenicians and Carthaginians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Normans, Aragonese, Knights of St. John, French, and British, amongst others. The University of Malta also has a rich history and traces its origins to the year 1592. To this effect the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering is at the forefront in research on the protection of cultural heritage. Some work related to the characterisation of Knight’s armour and the protection of globigerina limestone will be presented. In this lecture the University of Malta and the facilities at the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering will be introduced together with some research works on the development of materials for various applications.     

Prof. Ing. Joseph Buhagiar

Joseph Buhagiar received his B.Eng (Hons) degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Malta in 2003. He joined the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering of the University of Malta as an Assistant Lecturer in 2004 and in 2008 he received a PhD degree in Plasma Surface Engineering and Characterisation of Biomedical Stainless Steels, at the University of Birmingham (UK). He became a University of Malta Lecturer in 2008. He was promoted to senior lecturer in 2013 and associate professor in 2016. He is on the Editorial board of the Journal of Surface Engineering and represents Malta on the Coal and Steel Committee. In 2013 he was appointed Honorary Consul of the Republic of Colombia with jurisdiction over Malta (Decree 0613 of 2013). In 2018 he was conferred the National Order of Merit of the Republic of Colombia in the grade of Knight (Decree 1728 of 2017).
 

Prof. Ing. Bertram Mallia 

Prof. Ing. Bertram Mallia is an associate professor within the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering (DMME), Faculty of Engineering, University of Malta. He carried out his undergraduate studies at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Malta where he was awarded a degree in Mechanical Engineering with first class honours in 2002. In 2004, he was awarded a joint scholarship to pursue his doctoral studies at the University of Leeds, UK. His main research focus is the development, characterisation and testing of novel surface engineered layers for the enhancement of the corrosion-wear response of orthopaedic implant alloys and for the improvement of neural electrode performance.