The Speakers

Claire Briffa

Claire held roles in the tourism, retail and education sectors. Currently serving as Chief Operating Officer for Corporate Services at the Institute of Tourism Studies since 2015, she has played a pivotal role in the transformation of the Institute. Claire also held positions with the Malta Tourism Authority where her role spanned from industry analysis, fund hedging to procurement amongst others. Her contributions extend to lecturing at the University of Malta, ITS and for London School of Politics and Economics, Bath Spa University, and Bella Vista Institute of Higher Education in Switzerland, emphasising her commitment to education. Claire holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) in Economics from the University of Malta and an MSc in International Marketing from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. Her research interests lie in international marketing, consumer behaviour, and digital marketing. Claire is a council member of Malta Employers Association and is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK.

Dr Thérèse Bajada

Dr Bajada read for a PhD in Transport Studies at the University College London. She is a resident academic at the Institute for Climate Change and Sustainable Development at the University of Malta. Her PhD research was about the impact of bus reform on behaviour and policy, in which she looked at tourist and resident attitudes. Her research interests revolve around transport policy. Thérèse has published in peer reviewed journals and book chapters on topics related to bus operations, attitudes towards bus service quality, coworking spaces and the timed city concept, as well as road injury accidents. Prior to joining academia Dr Bajada worked with the Transport Strategy Directorate at Transport Malta. During this time, she worked on various projects, amongst which the Valletta Transport Strategy and the Public Transport Reform. Dr Bajada is the chairperson of the Malta Road Safety Council. Therese has been contributing her expertise for nearly two years to the VINCI Erasmus project related to Low Carbon Tourism.

Prof Dr Ing Jonathan C. Borg

Throughout his career, Jonathan has been able to blend academic and industrial work experiences, this reflected in his diverse roles of being a Professor within the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Malta, whilst applying his technical expertise through MECB Ltd a consultancy bureau he had founded. Through MECB's multi-disciplinary team, Jonathan assists organisations across Europe to innovate and reduce the waste of time, money, materials, man hours, energy and other resources. Jonathan graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Malta (1989) and with an MSc and PhD from the Univeristy of Strathclyde (1992 and 1999). Jonathan has been involved in a number of Sustainability projects funded by the EC. He is also involved in knowledge transfer and research related to 'design for the environment' with re-design projects to reduce the carbon footprint of products and services. Since several years, Jonathan has been regularly appointed by ERC and REA of the EC both as expert evaluator and also panel chair.

David Pace

David Pace has been lecturing on tourism sustainability and related environmental subjects at the Institute of Tourism Studies since 2005. He has been an environmental activist and journalist since 1985, and was involved in eco-certification training for hotels at the MTA and helped set up the Climate Friendly Diploma at ITS. The Vinci Erasmus Project is his third sustainable tourism themed Project and he has been involved with the Interreg Prisma Project regarding Relational and Community-based tourism in Malta and Sicily and the SATIS project concerning ecotourism training and capacity building in Macedonia and Albania. He has also worked on sustainable tourism with the Dingli Local Council and continues to offer consultancies to a number of entities regarding sustainable tourism and climate change.

Steve Vella

Steve focused his undergraduate European Studies research on sustainability and the central role of renewable energy towards achieving the Europe 2020 Targets and a Greener Europe. During his professional engagement in the hospitality sector, Steve furthered his studies at the University of Essex Online, during which period he analysed a number of related aspects in the tourism sector. Steve is also experienced in generating pedagogical material through innovative technologies including Augmented Reality. Steve has been contributing his expertise for nearly two years to the VINCI Erasmus project related to Low Carbon Tourism.

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