The Islands and Small States Institute (ISSI) of the University of Malta is an
interdisciplinary centre of excellence in islands and small states studies, with more than
30 years’ experience in teaching, research, training and outreach. The ISSI has pioneered
academic and policy work on economic vulnerability and resilience of small states, social
capital and the sociology of islands, climate change adaptation in Small Island Developing
States, among other topics. The ISSI provides a safe and dynamic environment for
researchers, possessing excellent expertise, state of the art hard and soft infrastructure,
and support to succeed in the overall research objectives.
The ISSI has developed three research platforms: The Small States Health Platform
(SSHP) focuses on health issues in small states. As a result of this initiative, and due to the
notable track record of the Institute relating to top−level policy research on health in
small states, the Institute was designated in 2017 as the World Health Organization
(WHO) Collaborating Centre on Health Systems and Policies in Small States.
The Climate Change Platform (CCP) focuses on climate change in islands and small states
and is coordinated by Dr Stefano Moncada, the Director of the ISSI. It smoothens and
brokers collaboration between UM entities and individual UM academics interested in
climate change issues and promotes research and teaching initiatives relating to climate
change at the UM and elsewhere.
The Island Tourism Platform has the objective of promoting research and teaching
initiatives relating to island tourism at UM and elsewhere. It is coordinated by Dr Marie
Avellino, Director of the UM’s Institute for Tourism, Travel and Culture.
For more information see: https://www.um.edu.mt/issi/