Tuesday, 4 February 2025

Annual General Meeting 2025 - Malta Sociological Association


The Annual General Meeting of the Malta Sociological Association will be held on Friday 14th March 2025 at 18:00. The meeting is open to paid members of the MSA and those interested in joining the MSA (payments can be affected on the day). Members interested in joining the meeting should inform us by the Monday 10th March 2025 by replying to this email.  Members are encouraged to renew their membership. More details re renewal of membership can be accessed by clicking here. 


Members are also invited to come forward with any proposals regarding the amendment of statute of the organisation so that these may be inserted in the agenda of the meeting accordingly. Kindly send these by return email to maltasociologicalassociation@gmail.com by Friday 28th February 2025. 

    

Self-nominations for specific positions on the Executive Committee may be sent to maltasociologicalassociation@gmail.com and need to be addressed to the Secretary. The subject of the email should be: Nominations MSA Committee. Nominations will be received until Friday 28th February 2025. Only paid members of the MSA may submit a nomination for the Executive Committee.   

    

The positions that need to be filled are the following:   

    

• Chairperson   

• Vice Chairperson   

• Secretary  

• Treasurer 

• Public Relations Officer    

• Events Officer   

• Outreach Officer   

• Training Officer   

• International Relations Officer   


  

The AGM will be held in Floriana. Venue will be announced closer to date.  Those attending are welcome to join for drinks after the meeting. 


Wednesday, 8 January 2025

Exploring Malta’s Social Landscape: Insights from the #MaltaSociology Conference 2024

 


MSA Secretary Maria C Borg reviews the #MaltaSociology Conference 2024 in an article on Newspoint (University of Malta). 

Read the article here

Wednesday, 20 November 2024

Webinar - Volunteers – (in)visible resources - 6th Edition of the Visibility of the Invisible Seminar Series

“Volunteers – (in)visible resources”

Monday, December 2nd 2024, 6.00 pm (CET) via Zoom

Visibility of the Invisible Seminar Series, 6th Edition

The 6th edition of “Visibility of the Invisible” seminar series, organised by the Malta Sociological Association, will be held on Monday 2 December at 6pm CET.  This annual event has been held since 2019 and takes place during the International Human Rights Month. This year's theme is “Volunteers – (in)visible resources.”

Join us to learn more about volunteer management, e-volunteering, challenges, current initiatives and international projects, invisible contributors and underappreciated efforts of volunteers in diverse sectors such as healthcare, education, disaster relief, and cultural events. 

Let’s celebrate International Volunteer Day through the promotion of volunteers' values, the spirit of volunteerism, and its transformative potential for individuals and communities, with our guest speakers from Malta, Cyprus, Romania, and Greece.

To register kindly click here. 



Thursday, 14 November 2024

Malta Sociology Conference held in Valletta

The Malta Sociology Conference 2024 was held at King's Own Bandclub in Valletta last Saturday 9th November. It comprised 12 academic research presentations by well-established scholars, young researchers, and students carrying out their dissertation studies. Presentations were organized into the following themes: Changing Spaces; Culture and Consumption; and Policy and Practice, followed by an open discussion. 

A presentation about the new journal of the Sociology Department, Faculty of Arts, University of Malta - SociologyMT - also took place. The first edition of this journal will be issued during March 2025. 








Tuesday, 12 November 2024

Public Consultation - Villa Rosa: MSA calls for Social Impact Assessment

The Malta Sociological Association (MSA) notes the public consultation for the Partial Review of the 2006 North Harbours Local Plan for Paceville (Villa Rosa site). It welcomes the point that the review must align with the principles of sustainable development by balancing economic growth with environmental protection and social responsibility. 

To this end, the MSA proposes an additional objective, namely to ensure that development does not create negative social impacts on the community. In order to achieve this objective (and in line with objective 6), the MSA proposes the adoption of a Social Impact Assessment (SIA) that follows a comprehensive and scientific approach in conformity with the International Principles for Social Impact Assessment. 

The International Association for Impact Assessment defines SIA as being “the processes of analysing, monitoring and managing the intended and unintended social consequences, both positive and negative, of planned interventions (policies, programs, plans, projects) and any social change processes invoked by those interventions”. An SIA is an interdisciplinary process, and follows established social-scientific methods, both quantitative and qualitative. Social impact assessments should not be one-off exercises, but ongoing processes which engage with various stakeholders and which report back so as to ensure effective policy processes.