From DJ to videographer: Ruby on Science

Lily Agius, the artistic curator of Science in the City met up with DJ Ruby to talk about science and art. Ruby created a video for Science in the City that will be available in 2013 on scienceinthecity.org.mt

– Recently, you progressed from DJ to VJ (video jockey). Was it a hard transition?

No, not really, because it has taken quite a few years to get it in motion. For the past 5 years I have been working with videography on an amateur basis, but all of a sudden at the beginning of this year I decided to take it on professionally, and in a matter of few weeks I learned all that I needed to.

– Which was the art installation or event that you enjoyed the most? 

Certainly the live music session by Andrew Alamango and Mario Sammut a.k.a Cynga. It was electronically based, which is my cup of tea.

– One of the exhibits in the exhibition at St James presented fruit flies within their own eco system in bulbs. These organisms are used to investigate muscle-wasting diseases, obesity, cancer, diabetes, and more. Did you ever imagine that humans could be related enough to a fruit fly to use them to learn more about human disease?

I never knew about it before. I was mesmerised to find out at the exhibition at St. James. That was very interesting!

– How did you feel when interacting with the art: climbing the DNA staircase, or entering the echo-proofed room in Strait Street?

It was an amazing experience, not just as a regular person attending the event but also as film maker while on the job.

– Have you ever been to a festival of its kind in Malta or abroad before?

It was a first for me, and was very impressed about how professional the event was.

– Did you expect to see something more from the festival? Is there anything you would like to see at the festival next year?

Well, from my point of view it may be no surprise to hear me say: more music.

– How would you describe the audience of the Science in the City Festival?

People of all ages and from all walks of life were there — it was certainly an event for everyone!

– Do you think that art can be used to explain science?

Yes it can, Science in the City proved that.

– How does science play its part in your own life?

I am very into IT, computers, software, gadgets and electronic music/visual. Technology is all around me and with me everyday, and forever evolving and improving. 

Part of Science in the City, Malta’s Science and Arts Festival

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For more information on DJ Ruby: www.pureruby.com or www.facebook.com/djruby. For Ruby’s videography and visual work: www.facebook.com/puremediamalta

Supporting the RIDT… BECAUSE RESEARCH MATTERS

When researchers are at work, they are taking steps that will eventually change our lives. Some steps are very small and will take years to complete, while others are faster and larger. Researchers are part of a global process that will provide solutions to a multitude of challenges. They can resolve our problems to provide energy, safeguard the environment, maintain food supplies, improve healthcare, and sustain efficient transportation. These solutions need innovation and the research that fuels it; this is the only way for societies to survive… let alone thrive! Our future needs hard work and new approaches, ‘doing what we’ve always done’ will not be enough.

The globe’s successful economies all invest huge amounts of money in research; much more than Malta, even if scaled to our economy. Locally, research is particularly relevant since we all know that Malta’s only real resource is the resilience, ingenuity, and diligence of its people.

THINK magazine helps pay tribute to the valuable work of researchers within the University of Malta. Over the centuries, the University has supplied Malta’s intellectual driving force. This institution has produced the graduates who have transformed a small barren archipelago into a civilised developed country within the European mainstream. Apart from a strong academic orientation, the University of Malta is an increasingly important centre for world-class research projects, across a wide range of disciplines. The University also collaborates with other major seats of learning, educational centres and institutes in a number of significant projects. This publication is committed to expose research and its social benefits.

How can you help?

If you share our objectives, please consider what you or your organisation can do to help us to achieve them.Has the University of Malta helped you arrive at where you are today?

You can donate financially through the RIDT website. There you can choose whether your contribution goes to the current priorities of the RIDT, or to a faculty, institute, or centre of your choice.Why not consider leaving a contribution to the RIDT in your will? Talk to us for more details.

Your gift, of whatever size, will play an important part in enabling the University of Malta to increase its research activities and to develop the necessary environment for excellence.

You can donate and get to know more about the RIDT by visiting www.ridt.org.mt

For the University of Malta to fulfil its true ‘University of the Future’ role, a much greater emphasis on research and innovation is needed. This will serve as a catalyst for on-going development and progress. For this future to happen, society, and the individuals within it, will need to support the University of Malta’s thrust to prioritise research and innovation. Malta will then achieve a better, more sustainable, and ‘higher value added’ future.

The Research, Innovation and Development Trust (RIDT) has been set up with this specific goal: to engage with all sectors of society in a drive to support research activity. During the past year the RIDT has managed to secure an encouraging number of supporters who have made a donation towards its mission. Private companies, public institutions and individuals have come forward with their donations — large or small — because they believe that for a country to thrive and prosper it needs the backing of a strong University that maintains its role as a higher education institution and as a centre for research and innovation.

479608_54799494Thanking our donors

During 2012 the RIDT received an encouraging number of donations from individuals, companies and public institutions. The University recognises the generosity of donors and would like to publicly thank them. Together with these donors mentioned here, the RIDT received a number of donations from individuals and organisations that preferred to remain anonymous.

 

 

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The Central Bank of Malta

The donation of the Central Bank of Malta will go towards the establishment of The Central Bank of Malta’s Chair in Economics at the University of Malta. The chair will be instituted within the University’s Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy. The agreement will run for five years, starting 1st October 2012.

 

 

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Malta Freeport Terminals Ltd.

Malta Freeport Terminals Ltd will be supporting the Research, Innovation and Development Trust (RIDT) of the University of Malta, over a five year period starting 1st January 2013. The funds will be received through the University’s Research Trust, and will be administered by RIDT’s Board of Trustees.

 

 

 

 

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Evolve Ltd.

Through the RIDT, Evolve Ltd, a subsidiary of Attard & Co that provides laboratory products and services, donated three instruments to the Chemistry Laboratory of the University of Malta. The instruments include a Gas Chromatograph, a Particle Sizer and a FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer). The new equipment will enable the Department of Chemistry to increase its research activity while providing better facilities for post-graduate students. 

 

DSC_8174Music and Research

Two university students, Christine Zerafa and Philip Attard, came up with a brilliant idea earlier this year. They put their musical talents to good use and managed to raise funds that were donated to the RIDT. Christine is finishing her Ph.D. in Chemistry and has recently obtained a Master’s degree in performance music, making her an accomplished concert pianist. Philip is doing a Bachelor’s degree in Music Studies and is fast becoming one of Malta’s leading saxophone players.