Our mission: an equitable society | Prof. Marvin Formosa

COVID highlighted the disgraceful wellbeing disparities among women, persons with disabilities, and older persons who were at greater risk of their quality of life being negatively impacted

Prof Marvin Formosa (Photo by Ray Attard)
Prof Marvin Formosa (Photo by Ray Attard)

Prof. Marvin Formosa, Gerontology and Dementia Studies

A lot of water has gone under the bridge since the setting up of the Faculty for Social Wellbeing at the University of Malta back in 2012.

Various challenges notwithstanding, disparate departments, centres and institutes overcame the odds to morph into a Faculty that brings the lens upon human existence in both a holistic and non-pathologizing way through intersectional arenas, such as gender and sexualities, criminology, psychology, social policy and social work, counselling, youth and community, gerontology and dementia, family and children, and disability.

The Faculty was planned from the very beginning to prevent and mitigate against human vulnerability by strengthening academic rhetoric, but most and more importantly, acting as a catalyst for innovative psycho-social and health care policies.

The fact that most resident academics take an active role in the shaping, construction and implementation of welfare services, both nationally and internationally, is testament to the Faculty’s coming of age.

There has perhaps never been a greater need for the Faculty’s work, research and care ethic.

We are only one-third of the way in 2022 but one would be forgiven for thinking that we are still in the year 2021 or even 2020. Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the Maltese shores our lives turned upside down, almost suspended in a vacuous space, whereby long-held and steadfast boundaries between work, family and leisure melted in thin air.

The Faculty never stopped working but COVID-19 became an extraordinary rare period for reflection, an atypical moment where one is able to recognise an ongoing key shift in the course of human history. It served to highlight the persistent, cumulative and disgraceful wellbeing disparities among different social groupings as women, persons with disabilities, and older persons, who found themselves at a greater risk of their quality of life being negatively impacted by the pandemic. 

Nevertheless, one has to look ahead and concentrate how society needs to change to accommodate an increasingly changing social fabric.

Unity, as a newspaper publication, provides a snapshot of key social problems that Malta is currently facing and wresting with following the various turning points and transitions experienced during the past decade.

Although some of the stories reported herein make harrowing reads, the Faculty is united in striving tirelessly to work with stakeholders build a more equitable society, to ensure that all citizens have equal access to live a life of dignity and purpose irrespective of income, gender, sexuality, abilities, ethnicity and age.

Since this cannot be achieved in silos, the Faculty’s multi-disciplinary context is surely in pole-position to brings us closer to such a reality.

The latest developments in Ukraine have generated great concern, especially for resident academics and students at the University of Malta with personal ties to the region. The Faculty for Social Wellbeing condemns the violence in Ukraine, offers its solidarity with all those who are suffering as a result of the incursion, whilst standing for peace. Please know that there are many resources for students and community members alike who require support. The Faculty for Social Wellbeing is a caring community and we are here for each other through challenging situations.