The MSCA 2017 Conference will take place in Malta on 11th and 12th May 2017 under the auspices of the Maltese EU Presidency to the Council of the EU. The event will focus on ‘Enhancing R&I capacity through researchers’ mobility’ and will be organised by the Malta Council for Science and Technology of the Ministry for Education and Employment, with the collaboration of the University of Malta. The overall objective of the conference is to discuss and reflect on the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions with a special focus on ‘Enhancing R&I capacity through researchers’ mobility’. The objectives of the event will be reached by sharing of good practices and encouraging a debate on past and ongoing experiences. Experienced and early stage researchers, academics from various universities, European Commission officials, proposal evaluators, representatives of National Contact Points and Programme Committee Meetings will have the possibility to share good practices, views and opinions. The input from the participants will be then elaborated into a conference report. The event will also look into other current and future aspects of the MSCA programme such as ‘Widening Participation’, in terms of encouraging organizations and researchers from the EU 13 to increase their participation in the MSCA. The role of policy makers, research institutions, non-academia sector, and National Contacts Points in this regard will be addressed. Furthermore, the conference will also highlight current and future societal challenges in order to prepare researchers for an attractive career and knowledge-exchange opportunities. The interaction between academia and industry sectors, skills, mobility, and gender issues will be among the key elements. A total of 150-200 participants are foreseen.

During the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU, the Malta Council for Science and Technology (Ministry for Education and Employment) proposes to hold a conference with the participation of the Research Ministers of the EU Member States and non-EU Mediterranean countries on “Strengthening Euro-Mediterranean cooperation through Research & Innovation”. The conference will comprise a high-level technical meeting on 3rd May 2017 that will feed a Ministerial Conference on 4th May 2017. The conference is expected to result in the "Valletta Declaration on Strengthening Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation in Research and Innovation", which will take stock of progress made in Euro-Mediterranean R&I cooperation, while looking ahead towards the implementation of the major large-scale initiatives that are being rolled out in the region as well as sowing the seeds for potential future priorities during the final part of Horizon 2020 and beyond. These areas reflect the overall objectives of the proposed conference: 1. Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area - PRIMA 2. Addressing the root causes of migration: the role of research 3. R&I for blue jobs and growth in the Mediterranean Area The conference resonates well with the three overarching priorities of the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU, namely: Mediterranean, Migration and Maritime, and provides a logical thematic focus in research and innovation policy in these key selected areas. The proposed event is expected to have significant knock-on effects on the coordination of efforts in R&I cooperation and support to R&I capacities by different services of the Commission as well as at bilateral or multilateral levels of on-going cooperation in the Mediterranean. The proposed event draws on existing knowledge and expertise provided by EU-level setups and networks in the Mediterranean area as well as interdisciplinary participation covering the range of fields addressed by the event.

TEMARA is a proposed teaming project between the Stichting Nationaal Lucht- en Ruimtevaartlaboratorium (NLR - the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory), the Malta Ministry for Tourism responsible for Aviation and the Malta Council for Science and Technology. The proposed project, being the eventual establishment of a National Aerospace Centre (NAC) in Malta. TEMARA will consist of two stages, the first being a 1-year action plan for the creation of a Business Plan, and the second being a 5-7 year Framework Partnership Agreement for the financing of the operations of the NAC. The proposal is being submitted in accordance with Teaming call under HORIZON2020 ‘Spreading excellence and widening participation’. In line with the scope of the call topic, TEMARA aims to team two parties: a leading institution of research and innovation excellence (NLR) and a new research agency at national level from a lower performing state (NAC) with the intention to establishing the latter as a Centre of Excellence. The overall strategic objective of the National Aerospace Centre is to become a viable Centre of Excellence providing a service to national stakeholders in the Aerospace sector with particular focus on supporting the continued competitiveness of the European Aviation industry while contributing to its growth, and to contribute to Maltese and European Research and Innovation (R&I). This will generally be achieved through research and innovation excellence in science and technology. More specifically, the NAC would develop a pool of know-how and engineering capability to attract further investment in the aerospace sector, develop a critical mass in specific areas of specialisation, contribute to greater national and European competitiveness and reducing disparities between Malta and other countries with respect to R&I and commercial competitiveness.

According to research, one-third of participants aged 10 to 17 withdraw from sports each year as they believe that sport takes up too much of their time and prevents them from pursuing other things in life (e.g. to study). More effort is thus needed to coordinate and support athletes’ dual careers to keep talented young people in sports and educational systems and make them aware of the benefits of a dual career. Preparing Young Athletes for Transitions, is an action research project amongst sports schools which emphasise a dual-career path for their students. Research has discovered that young athletes face a number of challenges when migrating to play professional sports abroad. The project has helped to equip young student-athletes, aged 13-15, from the participating nations with the necessary knowledge, tools and skills to face these challenges and succeed in their choice of sporting career. It also helped to equip trainers, stakeholders and parents to form a sound support base for these athletes. This project's aim was also to produce a model of good practice methods for similar schools and other educational settings. It complements the schools' ethos, as in previous activities, in that the project actions have encouraged students to be active members of society within a European culture. The project's outputs will further enhance the European body of research on sports and dual careers. Students (13 from each of the three countries in every exchange of students) and staff (3 from each of the three countries in every exchange of students as well as in every transnational meeting) have attended training sessions and lessons with each other in the partner countries as well as attended workshops and other organised activities related to transitional awareness (see attachment), the aim being to understand better what it means to live in another country, with a different culture, to be away from home, to experience challenges with language, travel, philosophies of training, making new friends, doing chores etc. The aim being that if these young athletes migrate to play professional sport overseas, they would have already been given a taste of what it feels like. Too many athletes have reported returning back to their country due to feeling homesick and unable to cope in the country they would have migrated too. We hope that if our young athletes are better prepared by giving them a taste of what may come about in the future they would be better prepared to survive and enhance their sporting career. The staff, parents and stakeholders involved with these students play a big part in further disseminating the experiences gained with other students, parents and staff in the future and thus a conference in each country has take place in conjunction with the exchanges. Athletes who have already gone through migratory transitions have been involved in this project to help guide the young athletes.Since this is an action research project each mobility was evaluated through interviews, focus groups, and anonymous feedback sheets with participants so that mobilities would be further enhanced throughout the project.

EuroNanoForum 2017 conference (ENF 2017) will take place on 21-23 June 2017 in Malta, under the auspices of the Maltese presidency of the European Union. It is organised in cooperation with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. European competitiveness and jobs depend on strengthening European manufacturing capabilities by providing essential technology building blocks in the form of high value-added products and their manufacturing processes in strategic European value chains. The aim of the conference is to contribute to these efforts of strengthening European competitiveness and supporting the renewal of its manufacturing industries, by the aid of nano- and microtechnologies and advanced materials. ENF2017 will review the status of European technology development in nanotechnology and advanced materials industries, discussing the latest progress in nanoscience and nanotechnology, and their contribution to innovation in manufacturing across all industrial sectors. In addition, framework conditions like education, standardisation, regulations, IPR and safety issues, as well as entrepreneurship and industrial policy will be discussed. The program also features sessions on finance and funding through European and National programs, in particular Horizon 2020, smart specialisation and public-private partnership initiatives. The conference builds on the agendas set by previous conferences and will also review the first activities launched under H2020 and provide feedback for the coming calls. The EuroNanoForum biannual series of conferences has grown since 2003 into the most significant European forum in its field for discussions amongst scientists, industrialists and policy makers, offering vast opportunities for networking with key decision makers.