Neville Schembri

Neville is a general nurse by profession and holds a Post Graduate Diploma and Master of Health Sciences in Health Services Management (University of Malta) together with a Post Graduate Certificate in Vocational Education and Research (MCAST). He is currently reading for a Professional Doctorate in Health at the University of Bath, UK.

Following 12 years working as a nurse in the operating theatres at Malta’s main public hospitals. In 2002 joined the private healthcare sector and served as home manager at Cospicua Home for the Elderly with CareMalta Group. In 2009 was appointed as Group Care Operations Manager and later in 2014 was Executive Director at Health Services Group (Healthmark). Currently Neville is a Senior Lecturer at the Malta College of Arts Science and Technology (MCAST) lecturing critical care, leadership and management on the BSc (Hons) Nursing program in collaboration with Northumbria University, UK.

Since 2016 started acting as technical consultant on various established private projects within the local elderly care business sector and the latest projects are Ghigo Community Residence, St Thomas Community Living and Casa Paola.

Dorianne Cachia

Dorianne Cachia is a Senior Lecturer 1 in the Degree Nursing Programme at the Institute of Applied Sciences at MCAST, where she teaches Life Long learning for professional practice, care, compassion and communication and practice learning skills.  She holds degrees of Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Nursing Studies (Malta), a Masters in Health Services Management both awarded by the University of Malta and a post-graduate certificate in Vocational Education Applied Research 4.0 awarded by MCAST. 

Her research interests are primarily concerned with stress and coping in nursing, emergency nursing and creative approaches to learning and teaching.

Dorianne is a state registered nurse with the Council for Nurses and Midwives in Malta.  Her area of practice is primarily emergency nursing and managing a medical admissions unit, with some years of experience at the Infectious Diseases Unit and the Discharge Liaison Unit.

Daren Scerri

Daren Scerri is a senior lecturer and researcher at MCAST IICT with a specialisation in Computer Vision and Learning Technologies, primarily focusing on remote sensing, AR, VR and games development for learning. He holds a Bachelor degree with Honours in Computer Science Education from the University of Malta and and awarded a Malta Government Scholarship (MGSS) and subsequently awarded an M.Sc. with distinction in Education and Leadership from the University of Leicester. He is involved in several projects in educational technology, computer vision and remote sensing (Earth Observation). Main projects include computer vision solutions for land monitoring (PIXAM), dynamic car-parking systems in village core streets, cloud-based data-driven AR for learning and COVID-19 related vision based evaluation systems. In the field of learning technologies, he also conducted research which was published within a UNESCO project, involving the development of virtual educational 3D tours, and in his M.Sc., a mixed-methods research focusing on policy, pedagogy and learning technologies for different learner abilities and aptitudes.

Gerard Said Pullicino

Gerard Said is a Senior Lecturer at the Institute of ICT as well as the coordinator for the Software stream at said Institute. He currently teaches a topic called IT project, which is relevant to research design and process, but he also teaches Unity and other game development subject. He holds a degree of Bachelor in Psychology from the University of Malta, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Computing and Information Systems from the University of London. He also holds a Master’s degree from the University of Hertfordshire in E-Learning.

His research interests include User Interfaces, Design of Interactive Applications as well as AI and programming in general.

Jonathan Vella

Jonathan, 35, from Birkirkara joined MCAST as a senior lecturer at the Institute of Applied Sciences during September 2018. Before starting on this venture, in 2007 Jonathan graduated from the University of Malta after successfully reading a BSc (Honours) in Nursing Studies which was followed by 11 years of work as a Senior Staff Nurse in the Cardiac Surgical Ward at the Mater Dei Hospital. During this time, he was a clinical mentor, supervisor, and examiner of nursing students for the University of Malta and Northumbria University Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Nursing Studies offered at MCAST. In 2016 he successfully read an MSc (Honours) in Nursing Studies at the University of Malta. After engagement at MCAST, in 2020, Jonathan successfully achieved a post grad certificate in Vocational Education and Applied Research carried out at MCAST which helped to develop a further understanding and awareness of knowledge and disciplinary-based perspectives in the field of education to provide a comprehensive understanding of techniques applicable to the teaching profession. Jonathan is a PhD candidate with the University of Northumbria, Newcastle with a special interest in clinical mentoring. Areas of interest include nursing, nursing education, research, clinical practice, mentorship, and health innovation. In his free time Jonathan enjoys football, reading, and is an animal lover.

Lorna Bonnici West

Dr Lorna Bonnici West graduated in Pharmacy from the University of Malta in 2000. She read for a Master of Science degree in Clinical Pharmacy at the Robert Gordon University, Scotland, and graduated in 2006. Dr Bonnici West worked as a clinical pharmacist at Mater Dei Hospital, Malta’s main acute general hospital, within the respiratory field till June 2013, after which she was appointed Principal Pharmacist of the oncology hospital section.

Dr Bonnici West was awarded a scholarship by the Malta Government Scholarship Scheme to read for a PhD at the Robert Gordon University, Scotland, and graduated in 2015. Her research applied mixed methods to investigate into aspects of medication wastage in Malta. In 2016 she was awarded a post-doctoral grant under the Reach-High Scholars Programme Scheme. The research programme was being conducted at the Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Malta. The aim of the research programme was to determine behaviour and practices in relation to medication wastage. The aim was also to identify medication wastage minimisation strategies and the effects of quality improvement measures in relation to enhanced value and wastage minimisation in pharmacy processes. The research work was part-funded by the REACH HIGH Scholars Programme – Post Doctoral Grants. The grant was part-financed by the European Union, Operational Programme II – Cohesion Policy 2014 – 2020 ‘Investing in human capital to create more opportunities and promote the well-being of society’ – European Social Fund.

Dr Bonnici West now works as a Senior Research Officer at the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology’s (MCAST) Applied Research and Innovation Centre and holds a post of Visiting Senior Lecturer with the Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Malta. Dr Bonnici West served on a number of committees and was the founder of the Malta Association of Hospital Pharmacists (MAHP) in 2013. She has collaborated with individuals and groups from various countries across the globe and has published in a number of high-profile peer-reviewed scientific journals and presented her work over 25 times at international conferences.

Phyllis Farrugia Abanfi

Phyllis Farrugia Abanifi is a Lecturer and the coordinator of the Degree Nursing Programme being offered at the Institute of Applied Science at MCAST in collaboration with Northumbria Univeristy, Newcastle, UK. She graduted as a nurse in 1988 and holds a Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Nursing Studies awarded by the Unversity of Malta; a Diploma in Managment awarded by the University of Leicster, a post graduate Certicate in Vocational Education and a post Graduate Certificate in Research methodologies awarded by MCAST. She is currently reading for a Masters in Gender Studies at the University of Malta. Phyllis is a state registered nurse with the Council for Nurses and Midwives in Malta. Her area of practice is geriatrics, Intensive therapy unit and private hospital managment. Her research interests are primarily towards gender issues in nursing, Intensive Therapy nursing, nurse education and gerontolgy.