The Heritage Management Organization (HERITΛGE), as part of the European Partnership for Resilient Cultural Heritage (RCH), is organising the inaugural RCH Seasonal School: “Heritage Adaptation to Climate Change”, which will take place from 5–15 October 2026 in Athens, Greece.

The RCH consortium has invited each participating country to nominate one candidate for a subsidised in-person place. The selected participant will receive financial support of up to €800 towards travel, accommodation and subsistence costs.

This intensive ten-day training programme is designed for policymakers, conservation and materials scientists, heritage managers, and cultural heritage professionals working at the intersection of cultural heritage and climate change, who can drive tangible adaptation of heritage to a changing climate. The curriculum combines lectures, practical sessions and fieldwork covering key topics such as climate impacts on cultural heritage, risk assessment, adaptation strategies, and heritage-based approaches to resilience.

📅Dates: 5–15 October 2026

📍Location: Athens, Greece (in-person sessions) + online participation available
⏰Deadline for expressions of interest (Malta nominations): 30 June 2026, 12:00 CET

👉Xjenza Malta encourages Malta-based researchers, professionals and stakeholders working in cultural heritage, climate change, environmental sciences, conservation and related fields to take advantage of this opportunity.

🔉To be considered for nomination, please send an email to eusubmissions.xjenzamalta@gov.mt with the subject "Expression of interest - RCH Seasonal School" by 30 June 2026 at 12:00 (CET), briefly outlining your current role and why you would benefit from participating.

🔢If multiple expressions of interest are received, Xjenza Malta will nominate one candidate based on the selection criteria established by the RCH consortium.

📧If you have any queries or questions about the program, please send an email to Ms. Gaia Gurrieri on gaia.gurrieri@mcst-services.com

A significant milestone for Xjenza Malta today as we signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Italy's Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS). The agreement aims to strengthen collaboration in research, innovation, and scientific capacity building across the Mediterranean region.

The MoU was signed by Xjenza Malta CEO, Mr Silvio Scerri and OGS President, Prof. Nicola Casagli, marking the beginning of an enhanced partnership that will foster scientific excellence and knowledge exchange between our institutions.

Presiding over the signing were the Hon. Clifton Grima, Minister for Justice, Research and Innovation and H.E. Valentina Setta, Ambassador of Italy to Malta. 

Following the signing ceremony, AMARE-MED 2026 Summer School was launched, an Advanced School on Multispecies Modelling Approaches for Ecosystem-Based Marine Resource Management in the Mediterranean Sea, which is being hosted for the first time ever, in Malta for its 2026 edition.

🎉To mark its 15th anniversary, JPI Oceans is launching a photo and art competition inviting artists, photographers, and enthusiasts to illustrate the science behind our Joint Actions.

🏆Awards

The winner will be awarded with a prize of €1,000, and each of the two runners-up will receive €500. 

Winning works will be showcased at the JPI Oceans office in Brussels, and promoted across our communication channels and events throughout the anniversary year. In addition, we are exploring ways to exhibit them in a policy space in Brussels.

🗓️Timeline

• Competition opens: 8 June 2026, World Oceans Day
• Submission deadline: 6 September 2026
• Winners announced: October 2026

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Xjenza Malta together with the EIT - European Institute of Innovation and Technology EIT have launched the EIT Regional Innovation Booster. 

This programme is designed to support high-potential Maltese Start-Ups and SMEs with market-ready solutions, helping them to expand internationally and accelerate their growth with financial support of up to €90,000 throughout the programme stages. Selected participants will have the opportunity to get expert guidance from European innovation leaders.

For more information visit the Xjenza Malta website:

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Elenya Spiteri scoops €10,000 top prize at EU award.

A Maltese medical technology entrepreneur has won a top EU award after inventing a device inspired by her great-grandmother's struggle to manage her medication. 

Elenya Spiteri, 20, won the AmCham EU Youth Entrepreneurship Award 2026 with her ‘Medilert’ automated medicine dispenser, beating two other finalists from Albania and Latvia.

The award comes with a €10,000 cash prize and a year of mentoring. 

Spiteri’s invention combines an automated dispenser with app-based monitoring and voice reminders, aimed at improving patient care for elderly patients.

“The idea started out in my great-grandparents’ living room," Spiteri said.  "I saw my great-grandmother struggle with her medications, and I saw the constant worry and stress it put on my family when she forgot to take her medication or took double the dose.”

“Medilert is that ‘living room moment’. I took that idea and built a company out of it,” she said, adding that she started the company last year before entering her invention into competitions around Europe.

Describing the win as “surreal” and a “moment of pride”, Spiteri said the award would help build Medilert’s credibility and support the scaling up of its operations.

'Dream to have my own company'

The Saint Martin's Institute of Higher Education student said her long-term plan for the company was to expand into other European markets and work on Medilert full-time.

“It has always been my dream to have my own company; working on the company doesn’t feel like a job to me, but rather a mission. I also plan to keep studying, as knowledge is always the door to achieving your dreams.”

The AmCham award, now in its 14th year, was created by the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union. Since 2021, it has focused on start-ups with female founders, co-founders or lead team members.

Spiteri was declared competition winner after delivering a presentation about her company and facing a grilling from a panel of senior business leaders, policymakers and EU-US representatives.

'Strong example of a young woman entrepeneur'

She received the award at this year’s AmCham EU Annual Gala, which featured the participation of European Commissioner Glenn Micallef’s cabinet, EU Commissioner Maria Luís Albuquerque and senior members of the US mission to the EU.

AmCham EU CEO Malte Lohan called Medilert a “strong example of how young women entrepreneurs are bringing fresh thinking to Europe’s economy”.

“Elenya has shown what is possible when a clear business idea is matched with the determination to bring it to market. We are pleased to recognise her achievement and the example she sets for women entrepreneurs across Europe.”

Other finalists included Albanian entrepreneur Bora Selenica, who was recognised for her ‘Pigi’ financial education app aimed at children aged five to 14, and Latvian entry Marija Ručevska for her early-stage venture capital fund investing in pre-seed and seed tech companies across Baltic and Nordic states.

The competition was held in collaboration with JA Europe, a leading European organisation providing teaching, volunteering and mentoring experiences.

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PREMIERTOGO tackles this problem head-on. Prof. Ing. Philip Farrugia leads the project, treating the lower-limb prosthesis as a system that can be designed, monitored, and adapted for each person. ‘Most existing prosthetics are still largely passive. They don’t capture what’s happening during use, nor do they adapt to it. We wanted to change that baseline,’ says Mr Adrian Mercieca, who works as an RSO on the project.

This ambition shapes every part of the project, from the cover to the knee, ankle, foot, and the sensors inside. The result is more than just one improvement. It is a new way to think about prosthetic design. The most obvious change is the fully 3D-printed cover, which is not just for looks. It shows how 3D printing can make prosthetics better and easier to produce.

Form Follows Force

The team started by looking at the old design. The previous cover was bulky, complicated, and hard to put together. It used standard fasteners, offered little room for personalisation, and had too many parts. The redesign aimed to use fewer parts, make assembly easier, cut weight, and improve its appearance without weakening it.

The cover was designed for 3D printing from the start, rather than being adapted later. That decision matters. Additive manufacturing rewards different shapes, connections, and internal features. ‘If you design for 3D printing from the start, you stop thinking in terms of traditional constraints,’ Mercieca explains. ‘You can simplify structure, reduce components, and integrate features directly into the geometry.’

Two main ideas shaped the cover: modularity and generative design. The modular system breaks the cover into separate parts, including interchangeable front panels. Users can change how it looks without touching the main structure. In a field focused on function, that offers something rare: choice.

Generative design provides the engineering logic. Instead of solid surfaces, the structure uses algorithm-driven patterns. Material goes where it is needed and is removed where it is not. The goal is not decoration. It is efficiency. ‘We’re not removing material for the sake of it,’ Mercieca says. ‘We’re placing it precisely where it needs to be.’

The design then moved into parametric CAD. Parts were shaped for efficient printing. Snap-fit connections replaced bolts and glue, making assembly faster and maintenance simpler. The cover was also aligned with the existing prosthetic system, avoiding a full redesign.

From there, the design was refined step by step. Wall thickness, pattern density, and connection points were adjusted to balance strength, flexibility, and manufacturability. Generative features were used only where they made structural sense. The final cover is lighter, easier to assemble, and visually distinct, without added complexity.

Material choice followed the same logic. The design was optimised for widely available printers such as PRUSA and Ultimaker. ‘There’s no value in a design that can’t be produced reliably. We had to make sure it works with real-world equipment,’ Mercieca notes.

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The PREMIERTOGO project was funded by Xjenza Malta’s MCST FUSION R&I – Research Excellence Programme (R&I-2024-013L).

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