Julian Bonello, a researcher at the University of Malta’s Department of Physics working at the interface between physics and biology, will represent Malta at this year’s Lindau Nobel laureates meeting.
The annual week-long event, which has taken place since 1951, has since grown to host over 40 Nobel laureates and 600 young researchers from across the world. The aim of these meetings is to bring together early-stage researchers from different generations and cultural backgrounds and to promote exchanges with Nobel laureates in their respective fields.
The meeting series runs over a five-year cycle in which the Nobel prize research themes of physiology and medicine, physics, chemistry, economics are covered, in addition to an interdisciplinary fifth year. Apart from the laureates themselves, the meetings feature contributions from world leaders – such as Angela Merkel in 2014 and Bill Gates in 2011 – who interact with the young research leaders.
Although this year’s event will be hosted online due to the pandemic, this has not dampened the enthusiasm of the participants and the Nobel laureates leading the event. Indeed, Dr Bonello is eager to take part in the various activities and events surrounding the Lindau meeting.
He commented: “Having just finished my PhD, this is going to be a good opportunity to meet with and listen to people on the forefront of research. This year, 80 Noble laureates from around the world will be contributing to the discussions. I also look forward to meeting upcoming young scientists who will play an important role in the science world of tomorrow. I believe these opportunities will help our university to continue strengthening its links with the leading universities and research institutions from around the world.”
Malta’s research profile has grown dramatically in recent years, with many research projects and researchers being based locally as well as a surge in high-impact publications involving local researchers. A by-product of this impressive progress, spearheaded by the University of Malta’s researchers, has translated into Malta being consistently included in this highly selective event, which has led to wider international collaborations. In fact, out of the 600,000 applications, only 600 participants are selected to take part in the Lindau meeting.
This year marks a new turning point in Malta’s participation, for which the University of Malta has expanded the infrastructure to help each year’s nominee by establishing a new senate committee featuring leading academics from across the spectrum of Nobel disciplines.
Malta has precious few opportunities to take part in global academic events of this kind, so a deeper and more meaningful commitment to the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting Series is essential to helping the next generation of local researchers acquire international recognition.
The Lindau meeting series has given participants different perspectives of some of humanity’s biggest scientific discoveries and its greatest future challenges. A greater understanding of these subjects can positively influence local research and enrich the teaching of science more generally.