Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1211889
17 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 19 FEBRUARY 2020 COMMERCIAL CLOSE to 250 students from 8 schools may be one step closer to answering the question on everyone's mind – "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Mak- toum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline & Group - Emirates welcomed students to the Emirates Group Headquarters for an immersive session as part of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature's Education Pro- gramme, which reached more than 30,000 students last year. The session explored the diversity of roles within the organisation, helping to cultivate their passion for aviation by enriching their understanding of the skills and passion required for these roles. Students between the ages of 14 to 18 years old were treated to a mem- orable two hour session on what it takes to work for the world's largest international airline. Team members from across differ- ent departments at Emirates engaged with students through insightful pres- entations, interactive questions from the audience and a panel discussion, inspiring them to take a greater inter- est in the aviation industry. Jointly or- ganised with Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, this is the first session of its kind and it is an extension of the airline's support for the Festival this year, promoting the 2020 theme of "Tomorrow", and helping drive con- versations with the next generation of aviators to power the future of the industry. Dawn Metcalfe, a Festival speaker and UAE-based career advisor and author who focuses on workplace readiness for students, moderated the event. The session contained in- spiring presentations held by team members across different Emirates departments. Shajee Rafi, Manager Business Improvement at Emirates Engineering, offered a sneak peek in- to the inner workings of Emirates En- gineering, and the cutting-edge tech- nologies that will drive tomorrow's aviation industry. The session concluded with a moti- vational speech by guest speaker, Jon- athan Yabut – best-selling author and winner of The Apprentice Asia, and one of more than 200 popular Festival authors. As a youth advocate, Jonathan con- nected with the audience reaffirming "you can never be too small to dream big." Emirates Group inspires close to 250 students to discover the diversity of roles across the organisation THE University of Malta, through the involvement of the Conservation Biolo- gy Research Group leader, Prof Adriana Vella, successfully hosted the 1st inter- national G-BIKE Genomics and Genet- ics for Conservation training school. Participants came from Bosnia & Herzegovina, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lith- uania, Macedonia, Malta, Monte- negro, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK and USA. Experienced scientists and practi- tioners had the opportunity to share knowledge in light of the increasing demands to meet biodiversity conser- vation targets from local to regional at EU and global levels. Topics covered varied extensive- ly from DNA barcoding for accurate identification of species and discovery of cryptic species or new alien species to environmental DNA that is increas- ingly contributing to monitoring of biodiversity in every habitat side by side with detailed population genetics and genomics. Feedback received from trainees for this training school was extremely positive and encourages the COST G-BIKE network to continue working to promote the use of the high-tech genomics and genetics tools for an- swering the many conservation man- agement questions to achieve more effective results. The scientific committee, represent- ed by Dr Cristiano Vernesi, Prof Mike Bruford and Prof Adriana Vella gave certificates of participation to each trainee. These trainees have gone back to their research and management chal- lenges with a wider consideration of genomics and genetics tools to choose from for the increasingly urgent con- servation of biodiversity. For further information, contact Prof Adriana Vella, Department of Biology, Univer- sity of Malta, via email. Successful first International Conservation Genomics and Genetics Training School Successful Genomics and Genetics for Conservation Training school at UM2 Emirates Group inspires close to 250 students to discover the diversity of roles across the organisation