The FIRST Global Team Malta 2021 group consists of 3 members all of which have been promoted to their second year of the Advanced Diploma in Information Technology (Software Development). The team consists of 3 students: Katryna Said, Matthew Bugeja and Antoine Spiteri. They are mentored by Conrad Vassallo (team manager) and Thomas Gatt (technical mentor). Director of the IICT Institute Conrad Vassallo has a penchant for robotics & embedded systems, Do-It-Yourself projects, 3D printers, software development, digital musical instruments, home automation and drones. He has worked on several open source projects and has at some point worked on a prototype for a foreign company specializing in home automation and smart appliances.

Highly intrigued in embedded systems and robotics, Thomas Gatt, a senior lecturer within the institute of ICT in MCAST has been involved in the MCAST’s winning Malta Robotics Olympiad team where he was in charge of keeping track of data from a range of sensors and programming a robot to follow tracks sans human intervention. Furthermore, he spares his free time working on Do-It-Yourself projects which he is currently enhancing using machine learning techniques.

Katryna Said has always been intrigued by computers and exploring their every aspect. This led her to choosing I.T vocational in secondary school, while following this subject she acquired a greater interest in everything that is technological. When it came to choosing her course to further her studies, software development was an obvious choice. During the year she would complete assignments to their fullest extent. During her year at MCAST she has expressed interest in robotics and AI systems, which led her to following courses on the subject.

Matthew Bugeja has always been fascinated by innovation and the opportunities that Information Technology provides. Having obtained his MATSEC exams with a distinction in Information Technology, Matthew continued his studies at the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST). Following the first year of a two year course, Matthew obtained a Grade A in the first year of the Higher Diploma in IT. Matthew’s particular interests relate to Data Mining and Artificial Intelligence. Matthew will continue studying at MCAST to eventually achieve his BSc in Business Analytics and achieve a career as a Data Scientist specializing in Artificial Intelligence.

Antoine Spiteri has been interested in the ICT sector since he was 14 years old. It started from picking two subjects called vocational IT and computer science, which he got first in class in vocational IT and a 3 on Computer science O level MATSEC paper A. Sadly he couldn’t start the Advanced Diploma in Multimedia software development course due to him missing MATSEC Maths o level pass mark of 5. But this unfortunate situation made level 4 easier since he completed a level 3 diploma in IT and almost got all A’s in MCAST. He’s looking to become a website developer or a mobile applications developer as a career once he finishes his multimedia software development degree in MCAST. His interests are in video games, video games simulations like Microsoft flight simulator 2020, Building/Maintaining PC’S and programming.