FOSTERING WATER-AGRICULTURE RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN MALTA

Risultati finali

Demonstration site in Malta to promote best management practices for traditional agriculture

A series of field experiments and demonstration sites will be established by the project partners, working with key stakeholders and research community on the island. The field experiments and demonstration sites would help inform and educate a wide range of stakeholders on the island on the role and importance of water for agriculture, and the agronomic, technical and engineering measures available to reduce water use and increase efficiency. For example, educational field visits, guided tours and open days would provide local agricultural colleges, schools, and the general public with opportunities to discover how water is an essential component in modern crop production on the island, helping to grow high quality fruit and vegetables, whilst highlighting measures being implemented to reduce agricultural impacts on the environment. The field experimental and demonstration sites will also provide exemplars for best practice for farmers to understand how they can reduce crop water demand.

Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn pages for the project

Profiles for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn will be created by the fourth month and maintained throughout the whole project with latest news and updates. This will facilitate exchange between the team and interested parties and a better dissemination of results and information.

Summer School Y2 Report

A document will be prepared in which the outcomes of the summer school will be elucidated together with the major topics covered and the manner in which they tie in to the major objectives of the project.

Series of publications for industry press to promote the research collaboration and networking and draft think piece/reviews for the scientific press

A number of publications will be published which will target the more technical stakeholders in that such literature will be scientific in nature that will explain the science behind the research being undertaken by the project team. These publications will also promote the research collaboration of the team. A number of reviews for the scientific press (including paper/s to be published in a high-impact journal) will also be drafted based on the science and results of the research that will be undertaken during the project.

Quality Assurance Report

Deliverables will be assessed to the following criteria: quality of the content, length, language, consistency, major strengths and weaknesses. When the project ends, the results will be published in a final Quality Assurance report that will be part of the final narrative and financial report

Kick-off meeting

During the kick-off meeting, the overall trajectory of the project will be decided upon, work packages discussed. Various other issues will be discussed including quality assurance plan, future coordination meeting, project structure etc. A document will be prepared with major outcomes of kick-off meeting.

5 5-day courses

A document will be prepared after each of the five courses envisaged. The document will contain pedagogical details, outcomes and future plans arising out of the courses.

Final meeting report

A meeting at the end of the project will be organized after which a report with the major outcomes of the meeting will be prepared and published.

Roadmap and strategy technical report for achieving agricultural and water resources sustainability in Malta

A document will be produced outlining the roadmap and strategy that should be followed to achieve agriculture and water resources sustainability in Malta. This will be done at the last few months of the project after all information, research results, discussions and evaluations have been undertaken.

Submission of 4 reports presenting the results of research undertaken as part of the Advanced Specialization Courses

The 4 reports will highlight the results that were undertaken as part of the Advanced Specialization Courses and will indicate the ties with overall project objectives and the need for research in water in agriculture in Malta.

Series of brief reports with commentaries on stakeholder meetings

The following will be produced: - List of stakeholders with roles in the stocktaking; - Report meeting of project team that will include methodology and work-plan for conducting the stocktaking and analysis; - x briefing papers at the end of each focus group; - 2 meeting reports summarizing all the issues related to the stocktaking and analysis of current research in agricultural water and including recommendations for research strategy design that will be undertaken by MCAST in the proposal’s targeted sector

Final project report

At the end of the project a report will be published with various accounts of the progress, outcomes and results of the project. This will summarize the major efforts together with a thorough evaluation of results. This report will also pick up where the mid-term report left and fulfill the reporting duties for the second reporting period: M16 to M36.

Quality Assurance Plan

Quality Assurance plan will be developed at the kick-off meeting and in accordance with the methodology for controlling the quality of the outputs. This plan will be published.

Mid-term report

A meeting half-way through the project will be organized to discuss the progress of the project and way forward. A document with major outcomes of the meeting will be prepared and that will be used to compile the mid-term report that will be completed in M15 and that reflects the 1st meeting report (M1 to M15).

Report on stocktaking and preliminary analysis

A report will be compiled to stock-take and analyze the present policies, strategies, governance and trends related to research in agricultural water. Evaluating the state-of-the-art, vision, rationale and strengths and the current gaps and challenges will provide a comprehensive assessment. This will be done through a hybrid of desk studies and interviews with key stakeholders.

Summary report on researcher and stakeholder workshop to assess agriculture, water resources, and environment challenges and produce

A brief report will be produced on the outcomes and discussions coming out of the workshop during which the agriculture, water resources, and environment challenges of Malta will be assessed and analyzed.

Six-month publication report

Every six months a report will be produced to inform about the activities and events implemented and to publish the event’s forecast. These short reports will be uploaded on the project's website and social media.

Roadmap for Malta decision-makers for developing research strategy in agricultural water

The roadmap will provide a realistic and feasible policy roadmap for decision-makers leading to the development of the research in agricultural water. The roadmap will take into consideration the objectives and strategies of Malta National Research and Innovation Strategy, which, in turn, encompasses the priorities of the smart specialisation strategy of the applicant country. The roadmap will be used to support decision makers in policy design aimed at creating enabling environments for agricultural water research capitalising on the results of the twinning exercise.

Summer School Y1 Report

A document will be prepared in which the outcomes of the summer school will be elucidated together with the major topics covered and the manner in which they tie in to the major objectives of the project.

E-learning course – Report on Modules and list of registered participants

A report on the process of module preparation and registered participants will be prepared. This report will also indicate the rationale behind the information made available and the background of the different participants. The ties between the modules prepared, the project objectives and the potential for future research will be highlighted.

E-learning course programme and calendar

A schedule with the learning outcomes, overview of unit description and assessment criteria of the e-learning course will be produced together with a schedule of when these e-learning programs will be launched and concluded.

E-learning course contents uploaded on MOODLE

The course contents of the e-course will be uploaded. Technical presentations, reference literature and assignments will be made available.

Promotional material

Production of promotional material will be implemented either through traditional or digital supports. Posters, banners and short videos will be produced. The digital support will be preferred, whenever possible, to cut the costs and to increase the visibility of the project. To better promote the FOWARIM activities, electronic posters will be prepared with the contribution of the first year results of the projects by the other WPs. In addition to this traditional material, an electronic gadget such as Community Project Card will be produced all long the project starting from M3, to share the project identity, objectives and achievements among the partners and the participants at the trainings and summer schools. This gadget is a ‘visit card’ that can be used as usual card, with the logo of the project, in addition it contains the holder name and a bar-code to allow several functions (i.e. events access, online registration, web fast login, etc.) that will be defined during the Kick-off meeting by the consortium. During some event (suggested by the Task Leader and approved by the consortium) some fragment will be recorded and short videos will be prepared and made available on the project web portal. These videos will support the reports and will be available also on social networks to disseminate the project’s activities. A project portal will also be created and which will include: a) a repository area with the project's documentation and material; b) an internal co-working area for the project's partners (in coordination with WP1); c) an area for external communication with multimedia material (videos, easy to understand info-graphic, articles) on thematic/geographic topics of mutual interests for research and innovation actors.

Pubblicazioni

Improving Soil and Water Management for Agriculture: Insights and Innovation from Malta

Autori: Stephen H. Hallett, Ruben Sakrabani, Andrew J. Thompson, Lynda K. Deeks, Jerry Knox
Pubblicato in: MCAST Journal of Applied Research & Practice, 2017, ISSN 2523-0433
Editore: Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology

Estimating Impacts of Land Use Change on Evapotranspiration for Three Agricultural Crops in Malta—A Preliminary Assessment

Autori: Sara Fenech, Jerry Knox, Malcolm Borg, Christian Camilleri, Alex Rizzo
Pubblicato in: Journal of Agricultural Science, Numero 11/3, 2019, Pagina/e 67, ISSN 1916-9760
Editore: Canadian Center of Science and Education
DOI: 10.5539/jas.v11n3p67

Agricultural irrigation of vine crops from desalinated and brackish groundwater under an economic perspective. A case study in Siġġiewi, Malta

Autori: Jesus Aparicio, Antonio J. Tenza-Abril, Malcolm Borg, John Galea, Lucila Candela
Pubblicato in: Science of The Total Environment, Numero 650, 2019, Pagina/e 734-740, ISSN 0048-9697
Editore: Elsevier BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.09.059

14 Years Experience of using IWA Best Practice Water Balance and Water Loss Performance Indicators in Europe

Autori: A. Lambert, B. Charalambous, M. Fantozzi,J. Kovac, A. Rizzo,S. Galea St. John
Pubblicato in: IWA WaterLoss 2014 Conference, Vienna, 2014
Editore: http://www.leakssuite.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Paper-2014G-28Mar14.pdf

SCOPING THE POTENTIAL ROLE OF AQUAPONICS IN ADDRESSING CHALLENGES POSED BY THE FOOD-WATER-ENERGY NEXUS USING THE MALTESE ISLANDS AS A CASE-STUDY

Autori: M. Borg, D. Little, T.C. Telfer , C. Price
Pubblicato in: International Symposium on Growing Media and Soilless Cultivation, 2014, ISBN 978-94-62610-21-7
Editore: ISHS Acta Horticulturae

Risultati finali

Pubblicazioni

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