Final year dissertations and technical presentations by graduates of the Faculty for the Build Environment
In Malta the University offers a joint Architecture and Civil Engineering degree from which the Malta Group of Engineering Institutions annually gives the opportunity to three graduates of the Structural stream the opportunity to present their final year dissertations to a wider audience than the University itself.
The objective of this event is to give students a "stepping stone" in their career from University to the "real world" & encourage them to promote what they've learnt and get used to presenting their work to fellow professionals and interested people.
The dissertations are reviewed prior to the event by the writer and a fellow Chartered Civil Engineer with a view to the “readability” of the documents, content, research and relevance to civil engineering but not in a purely academic way so that during the presentations an impression of the engineering principles gained by the graduates can be formed. Monetary prizes are then awarded to each of the three graduates with a nominally greater prize to the best considered/delivered presentation.
This year we were extremely pleased to have an audience of nearly 50 people listening to the:
Strengthening of Concrete Columns Using Insitu Concrete Jacketing by Jurgen Vassallo
This presentation investigated the ability of cast insitu reinforced grout jackets to improve existing reinforced concrete columns axial compressive strength and ductility by carrying out laboratory testing of modeling.
Communication in Project Management: Its Relationship to Project Effectiveness by Emma Faye Warrington
Communication has a pivotal role in the success of a construction project so recent movement has been to pinpoint negative issues with the aim for continual improvement so this presentation investigated the roots of these issues and whether ICT systems could be beneficial to improve them.
Structural Assessment of the Blast Resistance of Firework Factories by Justin Schembri
Accidents at fireworks factories across the Maltese Islands (recently 3 men were killed in an explosion) have cast a shadow over the tradition which is a passion for so many people and this presentation studied methods that could be incorporated to improve the standard of safety in these production complexes.
The presentations were all well received by the audience who asked many pertinent and searching questions of the graduates.
At the end of the event the writer explained about the function of the Institution of Civil Engineers and concluded with some comments/advice to the students about their work and University experiences which were also subsequently discussed with University lecturers.
The evening was an overall success and helped promote the Institution and further strengthened our links with the University.
Our “events” season is well underway this autumn and anybody who may be visiting Malta is more than welcome to attend so for more information about our Group and its regular activities see http://www.maltagpei.org.mt/.
Mike Brewer CEng, ICE Representative for Malta