Tech needs girls so yet again ICE Malta are confirmed ambassadors for this year’s edition of Girls in ICT celebrations! We’ll be sharing this year’s events, workshops, competitions and updates on our website and social media soon!

Do you have any ideas or would you like to make sure you’re on our guest list? Send an email to [email protected] and a member of our marketing team will get in touch!

Here’s what happened last year – The 2014 Edition

As ambassadors for Girls in ICT Day, ICE Malta teamed up with MCAST’s Faculty of ICT and hosted a one hour Q & A session  for students, guests and the media. During the event some of Malta’s top female business leaders and IT stars met Malta’s young ICT talent to share their stories, career advice and discussing the endless career opportunities in various ICT fields.

The 2013 Edition

ICE Malta welcomes some of the island’s top high profile females working in the ICT industry for the first ever celebration of Girls in ICT Day 2013. As ambassadors for this global celebration, the ICE Malta team has invited some of the women who have put Malta on the ICT world map, to share their stories, discuss career challenges and aspirations and of course to meet budding young female students who dream of being part of this exciting industry.

PHOTOS AND ICE MALTA’S OFFICIAL PRESS NOTE

HERE‘s a link to our official press note and ‘Girls in ICT Day 2013’ celebration photos

TECH NEEDS GIRLS COMPETITION NOW LAUNCHED! – WINNER ANNOUNCED! 

Malta’s joining the world and has officially launched a Girls in ICT Day 2013 competition together with popular fashion house Jennyfer! Competition details HERE

GIRLS IN ICT DAY 2013 – THE GUEST LIST

Below you’ll find the profiles of some of the leading ladies who have accepted to join us for Malta’s national event on April 24th 2013.  

Angela Gillespie, Producer TRC

‘I have over 10 years of production and product management experience, with over 7 of those in the games’ industry. My role as producer is to ensure projects are planned and executed on time and budget and delivered to the market at the highest quality. I love my job because I get to interact and interface with every department of a studio and learn how the magic of games comes together from concept to product launch. I chose this career path because I enjoy communicating and being the “conductor” of many moving parts and driving projects to come together. I chose the game industry because I absolutely love to work with some of the brightest and most creative people, making quality entertainment that puts a smile on people’s faces – And be a part of innovative technology, never having a boring day. I also have an MBA in Global Business and hope to continue to grow as the industry grows to improve business models, studio efficiency, and growth in the gaming sector in Malta.’

Dr Mirjam Palosaari Eladhari, Senior Lecturer at the University of Malta 

Mirjam Palosaari Eladhari is Senior Lecturer teaching Digital games. She is affiliated with The Expressive Intelligence Studio at University of California SC, and with The International Research School of Game Design at Gotland and Uppsala University. She received her Ph.D (2010) degree in computer science from The University of Teesside in the UK. The same year she was appointed University Lecturer at Gotland University. Before she went into research Dr. Eladhari was lead game programmer at Liquid Media in Stockholm (2000). Her first brush with game research was in the applied research studio Zero-Game of the Interactive Institute in Sweden where she was technical lead (2001-2003). During her dissertation work (2004 – 2009), conducted at Gotland University, she was Lead Game Designer of the MMRO workpackage of the EU project IPERG (2004-2005). She was visiting scholar at Georgia Institute of Technology’s Emergent Games Group (2005); Tokyo Institute of Technology’s Nakajima/Saito Laboratory (2006); and University of California SC’ Expressive Intelligence Studio (2007/2008).

Prof. Rilla Khaled – Associate Professor at the University of Malta

Rilla is an Associate Professor in the Department of Digital Games. She received her Ph.D. in computer science from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand for her thesis on culturally-relevant persuasive technology. Rilla was a postdoctoral fellow at the Human-Oriented Technology Lab at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, from 2008 to 2009 where she worked on advanced technologies such as large-scale multi-touch surfaces and locative media devices for storytelling. After this, she worked as an Assistant Professor in the Center for Computer Games Research at the IT University of Copenhagen from 2009 – 2012, teaching courses on serious games and user-experience as applied to game design and continuing her research.

Francina Van Twest, Senior Programmer for Interactive Books TRC

‘Whilst studying at school and University, I never imagined I would end up working in IT, let alone developing code as a programmer. I first studied Literature at University, specialising in Medieval English. I particularly loved the battle scenes – so perhaps that was an early indicator that I would end up working in the IT Games industry!  My first real job after graduation was in Local Government, where I started in administration, and worked up to being a Research and Development officer for the Housing department. It was only then – after a curious run-in with some badly managed data – that I realized I had a penchant for normalizing data. Surprised, yet enthused, by this discovery, I enrolled to study for a conversion Masters in IT to enter the industry. I thought I was studying with the aim of being a Database Administrator – and this has been one of my roles.  However, my real love ended up being programming. I have worked in web systems, games, and corporate financial, customer and accounting systems.  Now I am building an app for the iPad.  There is never a dull moment in IT: systems are constantly being developed, software is continually updated, and I am constantly renewing my knowledge to stay current and focused.  There are exciting developments all the time.  It is sometimes difficult to pick and choose what to concentrate on; but I firmly believe that there is something for everyone – and that includes women!’

Anamaria Pantea, Business Development Manager, SmartCity Malta

Anamaria is by profession an economist with a Master in Business Administration. She has over 12 years of experience in economic development and project management consultancy. She has typically performed boundary-spanning roles, bringing together in collaborative arrangements a wide range of stakeholders from across the public-private and industry-academia spectrum. Working for the Malta Investment Management Co. Ltd (MIMCOL), her responsibilities also covered the management of the Malta National Contact Point for the EU’s Competitiveness and Innovation Programme, including the ICT Policy Support Programme that a number of Maltese organisations benefited of. She has also worked with the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) where she supported, facilitated and monitored the development of the first three EU-wide Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), particularly the EIT ICT Labs KIC.

Jade Pecorella, Junior Game Designer, TRC

‘From a young age I was always fascinated in computers, games and the changes they bring to an everyday life. After having my son I realized even more the advantages technology brings to children’s education, making it fun and exciting to learn. This was one of the main reasons why I chose a career in the industry, as much as I was interested and really enjoy it, I wanted to learn and participate in this expanding industry to help bring these advantages to families. I started studying Web development and design, both in my free time, and also attending MCAST Malta in multiple courses; this led me to my previous position as a Junior Software Developer here at TRC. After a couple of months of being exposed to what a Game Designer’s role is in the gaming industry, I knew where and what direction I wanted my career path to lead me. Having a creative mind and also a programming background helped me to get to my current position as a Junior Designer here at TRC. It is a vast industry and an extremely interesting one – One that I will continue to enjoy working in for more years to come.’

Angele Giuliano, President of the Foundation for Women Entrepreneurs, Malta

Specialising in innovative business management methodologies, Angele has been working in the e-business, e-learning and e-finance field for the last 9 years. She also led a 15-strong team to win the coveted Euro-Med Multimedia Award in 1998. Angele lectures at the Computer Information Systems Department at the University of Malta. She also runs several commercial companies registered in Malta amongst which AcrossLimits  which is an ICT company also heavily involved in European projects. Ms Giuliano participates in several NGOs; most notably as the President of the Foundation for Women Entrepreneurs (Malta) which serves as a networking facilitator for Maltese Businesswomen and promotes entrepreneurial skills. The European Commission under the research programme of the 5th and 6th Framework Programme (FP5/FP6/FP7) and also the e-Content programme run by DG Information Society, has appointed her as an expert evaluator of ICT Research and Development projects. Thus she frequently attends evaluation sessions for specific Key Actions. Her role with the Commission was enhanced in 2003 when Ms Giuliano was appointed as reviewer of eContent projects where she conducted mid-term and final project audits for several running projects in Luxembourg. Angele speaks native English and Italian and has an intermediate level in German (Zertifikat Deutsch als Fremdsprache).

Dorothy Sims, Chief Operating Officer at iCube+

Dorothy considers herself to be a self-motivated individual with a wide range of experience in management and consultancy. She is dedicated and committed to maintaining high quality standards and is currently undertaking a degree in Business Management. As Chief Operating Office, Dorothy assists local and and international, organizations to maximize the value of their investment in technology and to increase interaction with their clients, through consulting, integration, implementation and management of ICT solutions.

Charlene Cassar, Software Developer, TRC

‘At the tender age of two, I was introduced to the wonderful world of computers which I consider was the start to my ongoing fascination with this industry leading me to my position as a Software Developer here at TRC. I am also currently reading for a Master’s degree in Artificial Intelligence on a part-time basis, where my studies and thesis are focused on Game Development. One of the main challenges ICT poses is the ongoing changes in technologies and practices. In attempt to keep up-to-date with these changes I hope to enrich my knowledge through my studies, ICT-related forums and experience I obtain from work. Fortunately, numbers have slightly increased in figures representing females selecting careers in the ICT sector; however, this number is still remarkably low when compared to the number of males in the same sector. I believe the main reason for this large ratio difference between females and males in ICT is due to the stereotypical image portraying ICT jobs more suitable for males, rather than females. Encouraging a significant number of females to pursue careers in ICT is the only means to eliminate this incorrect perception. I believe females may be encouraged by having successful females employed within the ICT sector to speak to female students in secondary schools about their experiences.’

Helga Pizzuto, Chief of Spectrum Management and Technology MCA

Ing Pizzuto currently holds the position of Chief Spectrum Management and Technology Officer with the Malta Communications Authority.  Prior to this position, she has held a number of senior posts within the local electronics manufacturing and telecommunications industries. She has also held the position of head of the Management Efficiency Unit, government’s in-house consultancy group and provided independent consultancy services for a number of years.  Ing Pizzuto was also President of the Chamber of Engineers for four years between 2006 and 2010.

Barbara Stramska,User Interface Designer (UI/UX Designer, UX Architect), TRC

‘I graduated from Digital Arts at Kingston University (London, UK). I also studied as an exchange student at Hochschule fur Gestaltung in the Media Arts Department (Frankfurt, Germany) and at Central Saint Martins – Art Direction and Advertising (London, UK) where I worked with excellent artists and designers including Francine Galea, Deutschlandrock, Ulrike Gabriel, Florian and Jenett . Before joining TRC, I worked for Modern Times Group (MTG) as a User Interface and Graphic Designer. At MTG I was involved in creating websites, e-mail campaigns and ready web products. At TRC is now work as a UI/UX Designer, UX Architect. Designing is not only about doing your job at that moment but also about being curious, having ideas and keeping your mind open to what’s happening around you. My interests include graphic design, interaction design, animation and motion graphics.  Furthermore, being a musician I find it very interesting how through the use of new technologies music and design can create new forms of art.  My work includes video mapping, AV performances and interactive installations as well as Graphic and UI/UX Design. My latest biggest work was a Video Mapping project on the Palace in Valetta on New Year’s Eve, which I created together with Shadeena Studios and Studio 7 (funded by Malta Arts Funds). The latest exhibitions and festivals I took part in were: B-Seite Festival, 2012, Mannheim in Germany and Live Performers Meeting,  2012 in Rome, Italy.

Other guests include: Karen Cuschieri, Senior Project Manager, 6PM, Anna Genovese, Incentives Administration Executive, Malta Enterprise and Fabianne Ruggier, Consultant, Human Capital Office, MITA.  

ICE Malta, will be launched a commemorative competition entitled ‘Tech needs Girls’ together with fashion partners Jennyfer. More details will be launched on ICE Malta’s social media channels.