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GOZO, MALTA ANNUAL CONFERENCE

February 19-23, 2012 (Carnival Week)

The International Journal of Arts & Sciences (IJAS) in collaboration with the University of Malta's Gozo Campus is once again hosting a refereed conference for professors and students in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Nestled sixty miles under Sicily, the Maltese Islands are a unique mix of Sicilian and British cultures while the underlying native language, Maltese, is a Semitic language.

Beaches are everywhere. Thousands-year old temples overlook the fishing boats trawling the crystal clear blue waters.

These islands of beauty and peace are the European Union's gems in the Mediterranean, a rejuvenating magnet for lovely country walks, full of pleasant cultural surprises.

During March, they provide one of the warmest spots. The sun loves the islands. However, during the same month, the weather may vacillate within a couple hours, creating summer and winter sensations in one day.

The name "Malta" is somewhat confusing because sometimes it denotes the largest island and sometimes it refers to the three islands - Malta, Gozo and Comino - as one nation state. Our conference will be held in pristine Gozo, the second largest island, about half an hour by boat from the largest island, Malta.

The main university on the islands is the University of Malta. Our conference will be hosted by the University's Gozo Campus which was transformed into a conference center in the last few years.

Besides offering you the opportunity of sharing your research with an international audience, the conference will facilitate your participation, free-of-charge, in (i) a one-day program around Gozo, and (ii) a one-day program around Malta, discovering both islands' major touristic and cultural areas by bus and some walking.

Faculty who opt for any or both of these day programs will be assigned a presentation slot on a different day to assure a conflict-free schedule.

Click here to see the photos taken by Dr. Siu-hing Ling during the IJAS cultural program embedded in the 2010 conference.

Gozo Conference (March 2011): Delegates just off the second charter bus during the Gozo program. [Photo: Mihai Rata]

The IJAS Conference Series takes place annually in several cities across Europe and North America. The series has three primary aims.

The first aim is to provide opportunities for academics from a range of disciplines and countries to share their research both through the conference podium and IJAS' double-blind refereed publications. All IJAS conferences are inter- and multi-disciplinary.

The second aim of the Conference Series is to provide opportunities for academics to receive informal in-depth feedback through discussions, and to enable them to establish contact with professionals in other countries and institutions. The tours are the main way of "breaking the ice" away from the formalities of the conference hall, providing an informal setting for discussing different points of view. Even in an increasingly networked world of internet and satellite conferences, there is no substitute for personal interaction—what Edward R. Murrow calls "the last three feet of communication." It is individuals, not data streams, who must ultimately build the connections that in turn create lasting international research partnerships.

The third aim of the Conference Series is to introduce academics to educational premises in locations that are suitable for study abroad programs and which may meet their students’ educational needs. IJAS draws its inspiration from the Fulbright Program, an integral part of the United States' foreign educational relations, where face-to-face exchanges have proven to be the single most effective means of engaging international publics while broadening dialogue between academics and institutions.

Everything was well planned, the company was congenial, and last but not least the tours were very interesting. I enjoyed every single moment of it.

Dr. L. Filiz Ozbas
Cyprus International University

We invite abstracts, papers, and proposals in any of the following four tracks:

Social Sciences and Humanities,
Business and Economics,
Teaching and Education, and
Science and Technology.

The best paper in each of these tracks will be recognized through an engraved plaque. The reviewers will select the winning papers.

The accepted submissions will be clustered around their common topics and areas of interest. As is typical of multidisciplinary conferences, the final program - released about three weeks before the conference - will mirror the research agendas of the delegates rather than a pre-conceived list of arbitrary topics.

It is up to each delegate how much to submit or publish. Some authors may publish only an abstract in the proceedings. Others may prefer to publish a full-length manuscript in the journal.

Delegates may also attend a conference without submitting or publishing any research.

Authors may deliver their work during the conference either as (i) a 15-minute oral presentation, or as (ii) a poster session.

The Malta conference was lovely and I would especially like to note the outstanding contribution of Joseph [Azzopardi] from the University of Malta for his patience and personal care taken with each participant.

Dr. Marilyn Steinbach
Université de Sherbrooke, Canada

Complimentary Early Bird Special (19 February 2012. Walk starts at 1:00 pm - Victoria Bus Terminus)

On Sunday afternoon, February 19, the day before the conference presentations start, IJAS will host a guided welcome-to-the-conference walk through the narrow streets of Victoria, and the surrounding countryside.

The 2.5-mile walk will originate at 1:00 pm, in the Victoria Bus Terminus. We will walk to St George's Square in Victoria, with immediate access to the narrow streets that snake through the town. The streets were purposely built this way to help the town defend itself from the Moors who would invade, pillage and carry the locals as slaves to North Africa. The winding streets made it difficult for the invaders to visualize what awaited them ahead on the rooftops, in the windows, and on the ground.

The group will then proceed to the open countryside for the rustic views that adorn the island. The destination of the walk will be Xlendi Bay, Gozo's most cosy bay during the winter months. At Xlendi, the group members will have free time for walks around the bay, tea, etc.

Group members then take the 3:24 pm or 4:24 pm bus to Victoria where another Carnival evening of merriment would be in full action.

Everybody was so friendly and gave me a lot of academic advice, and the conference and its educational tours provided a pleasant experience for me. I would like to attend an IJAS conference again in the future.

Dr. Yuko Kato
Jin-ai University, Japan

Complimentary Day Program Around Gozo (Tuesday, 21 February 2012)

University of Northern British Columbia researchers Brenda Christensen and Maureen G. Hewlett soaking in the sun and the view during the Gozo conference.

The day program around Gozo starts with complimentary cappuccinos and pastizzi (filodough stuffed with white cheeselets or mashed peas and served hot) in a no-name bakery nicknamed by the locals as "Tal-Patri" at St. George's Square in Victoria. The power of branding hasn't yet come to the island and word-of-mouth is what guides the locals to the best pastizzi in Gozo, at "Tal-Patri."

We shall walk through the town's narrow streets radiating outwards from its suq ("market"). In Independence Square, we shall watch an audiovisual show about the history of the island. A brief tour of the Citadel follows, rising majestically above the town, with comprehensive views of the island. The Citadel was built by the Knights of St John.

A private bus will then pick us up and take us to watch the island's other picturesque spots including:

Marsalforn, Gozo's most popular bay during summer; and

Xwejni's salt pans hewn in rock.

You're always close to the sea in Gozo.

Dwejra's rocky cliffs under the village of San Lawrenz, which we will also tour by a very short boat ride (if the weather permits); and

The islands are hilly and as a result the scenery keeps changing even over small distances. This keeps a bus tour refreshing with one surprise after another. There is always something different to see round every corner. Everything tends to be on a miniscule scale in comparison to the vast open space that one is accustomed to in the United States. The compactness of the island makes it possible to get off the bus and tour the various spots of interest on foot as opposed to witnessing it all through the bus windows.

Complimentary Day Program Around Malta (Wednesday, 22 February 2012)

We will cross over by boat to the sister island, Malta, for this complimentary day program by private bus.

The main highlights of this tour will be three locations:

Mdina is the silent city of narrow streets, where one must allow time for a visit to at least one of its adjacent catacombs; and

Valletta, Malta's capital and a UNESCO designated city built as a major fortification under Grandmaster LaVallette of the Knights of St John. Places to visit in Valletta include the Barrakka for a view of one of the deepest harbors in the world and the Knights' St John Church whose carved walls and engraved floor slabs are a tribute to the European nobility that sponsored the Order.

The small crafts village at Ta' Qali based in wartime Nissen huts, varies from top-end jewellery shops to ultra-touristy pottery items. There is also local leather, lace and knitwear as well as the island's famous glass where you may catch a glimpse of the glass blowers at work.

Valletta, historical home of pomp and pageantry.

Photos and Videos

Gozo in the eyes of the UK's Travel Channel may be seen by clicking here. For an article (complete with video and slide shows) in The New York Times about the Maltese Islands, click here.

Through YouTube, one may also catch a glimpse of the typical dancing on the streets of Victoria, Gozo, during Carnival. Carnival will coincide with our conference week, momentarily waking up the otherwise sleepy island from its hibernation.

It was a fantastic conference! Very well organised, supervised with dedication... interesting papers over a wide range of topics, friendly participants, and a gorgeous setting.

                                                                  Dr. Elizabeth Christopher
                                                                                                              Macquarie University, Australia

Why The Bus Tours Matter

The two bus tours seek to practically cover an entire country in two days.

To understand the importance of these bus tours as part of the IJAS experience in fostering study abroad programs and joint reserch, please click here.

Submit Your Research

To submit your abstract for presentation at this conference, click here.

The most important dates to remember are as follows:

Pay the registration fee for the conference on or before January 16, 2012.

Conference presentations will be held between February 20 - 23, 2012.

Email your formatted manuscript to ManuscriptSubmission@gmail.com after your online submission is accepted and before March 25, 2012.

The proceedings and journal will be published during October 2012.

IJAS in Gozo (2011). [Photo: Mihai Rata]

Within a few days of receiving your online abstract submission, we will notify you of the reviewers' acceptance or rejection, for the conference.

If we inform you that it is an acceptance and you would like to publish your research, follow the model format here and email us your formatted document in Microsoft Word. You may do so up to two weeks after the conference.

Abstracts and summarized articles will be published in the proceedings entitled Conference of the International Journal of Arts and Sciences, in CD-ROM format (ISSN 1943-6114).

Full length manuscripts may be published in the International Journal of Arts and Sciences, also in CD-ROM format (ISSN 1944-6934). The review process for the journal is slower and more demanding in its standards. Although both the proceedings and the journal are refereed, research that meets the refereed standards for the conference may not meet the refereed standards for the journal.

The journal is no longer distributed in hard copy format. It is now in CD-ROM format since this makes it easier to disseminate articles (click for examples). Each registered author will receive a complimentary copy of the CD-ROM in which his/her work appears. The CD-ROMs will be airmailed in October 2011.

Registered authors who prefer a hard copy of the proceedings or journal may download the entire CD-ROM on their own computer and publish and order a hard copy of it from Lulu.com for their own personal use.

Our articles are increasingly accessed - click here - through Google Scholar. The journal is indexed in (i) WorldCat, (ii) Ulrich's serials directory, (iii) Cabell's directories of Educational Curriculum & Methods and Educational Psychology and Administration, (iv) Proquest (with effect from late 2011), and (v) Pol-On, the Polish scholarly bibliography operated by the University of Warsaw.

There is no page limit on articles. We welcome both short and lengthy submissions. We don't impose a financial penalty on lengthy manuscripts.

Each registered author, irrespective of whether he or she submits a formatted abstract or paper, will receive a Certificate of Participation.

Powerpoint Presentations
At the conference, the presentation room will be equipped with a laptop, a digital projector and a projector screen. The laptop will be set up for Powerpoint presentations. Linux and Mac users are asked to save their presentations in a compatible format. In the evolving world of Microsoft, save down to the 97-2003 format in order to ward off any problems. Make sure to bring with you about 15 hard copies for the attendees.

Questions about your submission and presentation should be emailed to: conference@internationaljournal.org.

Gozo’s people were very kind and friendly. I had a very pleasant and peaceful time in Gozo, and hope to visit Gozo again with my family.

Dr. Seong-Min Yoon
Pusan National University, S. Korea

Do you require a visa to enter Malta?

Malta is an EU member. To find out if you require a visa for Malta, click here. In several countries, it's the Italian and Austrian embassies that are entrusted with issuing visas for Malta. To find out where to apply for a visa, click here (this extensive list is not current) and here (for the latest updated addresses!). For more information about visa applications, fees, and required supporting documents, click here. Please note that it may take a number of weeks to secure a Maltese visa.

Lodging

Since this will be carnival week, the demand for lodging on the island will be heavier than usual. Please do not postpone your lodging reservations until the very last minute.

The Maltese government's Ministry for Gozo recommends several hotels on its website. The website provides a list of hotels, guesthouses, farmhouses and apartments. Be careful not to select the Hotel Comino on the list since it isn't located on the island of Gozo but on the island of Comino.

GTAHotels.com and Booking.com are search engines that include Gozitan hotels. Enter "Gozo,Malta" as the destination but be careful since the resulting list is a mixture of hotels in both the island of Gozo and the island of Malta.

For the bus schedule between Gozo's various villages and the Victoria bus terminal at the heart of the island, click here. Cabs in Gozo are reasonably priced (as long as you agree on the price with the cab driver beforehand) and will fill the gap in the bus schedule.

[We] would like to thank you for the highly organized and very interesting conference in Gozo. For us it was a wonderful experience and a good opportunity to meet with other colleagues in several academic fields.

Dr. George Girlesteanu,
University of Craiova, Romania

How to get to Gozo and the Conference Center

Once again Air Malta has been designated as the Official Carrier for the annual IJAS Conference in Gozo.

Before you depart for Malta, reserve a bus ticket from the Maltese Airport to the Gozo Ferry Terminal (Malta) by clicking here. Do not reserve the ticket all the way to Gozo since the ferry can only carry so many vehicles that want to cross over for the Gozo Carnival. The ferry has some steep stairs. Hence, before you board the ferry, it would be best to give your luggage to the ferry representative who will carry your luggage on a special trolley and hand it to you once you arrive at the Gozo terminal after the 30-minute sea crossing.

As soon as you land in Gozo, pick your luggage from the ferry terminal (Gozo) and take a taxi to your hotel. Or take public bus #301 to the Victoria bus terminus. From the Victoria bus terminus you may then take a taxi or another bus to your hotel (if it isn't in Victoria).

Carnival spirit in full swing in Gozo.

If the above booking doesn't materialize (e.g., bus has no more space), the remaining practical alternative would be to take a taxi from the Maltese airport to the Gozo Ferry Terminal (Malta). The taxi journey to the ferry takes less than one hour.

During Carnival several boats cross between the two main islands round the clock, without any timetable constraints; otherwise, for the usual boat schedule, click here.

If you plan to rent a car, rent it in Gozo. Otherwise you may have to wait in line to board the boat for about four hours since the boat holds a limited amount of cars and cars will be lining up for the Gozo Carnival.

You really don't need a private car in Malta or Gozo. The public bus system is very efficient even if to an outsider it may seem somewhat disorganized. For the bus schedule in Gozo, click here.

The hub of the public bus system in Gozo is the Victoria Bus Terminus (just as on the island of Malta the hub is the Valletta Bus Terminus). One will find both public buses and private cabs at the terminus. Taxi rides from Victoria, at the center of the island, to anywhere else on the island cost about 5 to 10 Euros. No matter where you stay in Gozo, the most economical way to travel is to take a public bus to the Victoria Bus Terminus. The less than 4-Euro ticket is valid for the whole day on any bus on any island.

To go to the University of Malta Conference Center in Xewkija, Gozo, you may take one of the buses that run from the Victoria Bus Terminus to the Gozo Boat (instead of to Xewkija), which will drop you a stone's throw away from the conference building. Alert the driver that you want to get off the bus at Xewkija in the vicinity of the University Center. This will be a short 8-minute trip.

Geography Live (Malta 2011): Delegates after exploring a natural wonder off Zurrieq.

An alternative is to get a cab from the Terminus that will take you to the University Center. A big sign next to where the cabs line up shows how much a cab would cost from this point to anywhere in Gozo. Nonetheless, try to agree on a specific price before you get into the cab.

If you're waiting for a bus, keep in mind that it will likely arrive a few minutes late. Such is the culture. If you have been scheduled to present a paper at a specific time, don't panic if you're late. Gozo has been advertised over the years as the island where time stands still.

While in Malta, if you would like to visit Sicily for a couple of days, or any other nearby country, Air Malta's Flyaway Tours will likely be your best bet for economy and service.

Conference Registration Payment
All registration fees are in American dollars.
For all alternative ways of paying the registration fee, click here.
Registration fees do not include food and lodging.

$360 - Malta (Feb 2012) Conference Registration Valid for all 5 days Valid for one person for all conference events, on and off conference premises. Includes all tours.
$240 - Malta (Feb 2012) Conference Registration Valid for 1 day only Valid for one person, for one day only, on conference premises.
$560 - Malta (Feb 2012) Conference Registration for 2 persons. Valid for all 5 days Joint registration for yourself and a fellow co-author or guest, valid for all conference events, on and off conference premises. Includes all tours. There is no such thing as a "free child" or "free spouse." Also, children under 6-years old are not allowed. This option is not available for two authors with two or more research presentations.

$105 - How to Organize a Study Abroad Program
A one-credit hour graduate level course with the University of San Diego.
For information and separate registration click here.

Maltese Food

The Maltese cuisine is a standard bearer of the Mediterranean diet and reflects the regional influences that left their mark on the islands over the centuries.

During your visit, we recommend the following for your enjoyment:

Seared tuna is increasingly popular in Maltese restaurants.

Aljotta (a.k.a. "Maltese Fish Soup"). Made from fresh fish, herbs, garlic and tomatoes.
Mqarrun il-Forn (a.k.a. "Maltese Baked Macaroni"). This is a mixture of macaroni, eggs, bolognese sauce, peas, and bacon.
Ross il-Forn (a.k.a. "Baked Rice"). Eggs, bolognese sauce, peas and bacon are added to a dish of rice, spiced with curry, and baked.
Rabbit Stew. It probably qualifies as the most traditional Maltese dish, typically served over spaghetti.
Qargha Baghli Mimli (a.k.a. "Maltese Stuffed Marrows"). Enriched with beef and fresh herbs and, preferably, baked.
Pastizzi and Qassatat. Filodough filled with fresh Maltese fresh cheeselets or peas. The dough in qassatat is less oily.
Hobz tal-Malti (a.k.a. "Traditional Maltese Bread"). Shaped like a cannon ball succumbing under its own weight. Its hard crust encases a soft delicious interior.
Kinnie. Malta's traditional soft drink. Tastes like a Campari turned into a soda without the alcohol.

The above are our favorites from a longer list that you may read about by clicking here.

Photos from our annual conference in Gozo:

In Case of Questions About...

your submission or the conference:

events sponsorship:

tourism on the islands:

International Journal of Arts & Sciences
Attn: Mark Bridge
Conferences Department
55 Farm Drive
Cumberland, Rhode Island 02864-3565
USA
E-mail: conference@internationaljournal.org