Get Ready for Women on the MOVE 2026:

Keynote Speaker

Dr Shara Cohen is systems leader, and workforce strategist with over two decades of experience across academia, healthcare and complex organisations.

She holds a PhD and multiple professional fellowships, and is a recipient of the British Empire Medal (BEM) for services to science and public engagement. Her career spans senior roles in research, and advisory settings, working at the intersection of scientific expertise, leadership, and organisational impact.

Dr Cohen's work examines what happens once women enter male-dominated industries, including aviation, transport, engineering, and healthcare, and why capable professionals so often stagnate or exit despite strong performance.

Her leadership and workforce systems work focuses on how organisational structures, culture, decision-making, and informal power dynamics shape career trajectories.

Dr Cohen is the Founder of several international initiatives.  She supports professionals in STEM and regularly speaks to boards, leadership teams, and conferences on inclusive leadership, workforce sustainability, and long-term talent retention.

 Welcoming Remarks 

Karen Zerafa serves as Chief Operations Officer at Transport Malta, leading operational improvements and major reforms across the maritime, aviation, and land transport sectors. With a background in criminology and over twenty years of experience in public administration and corporate services, she has overseen significant organisational restructurings, managed EU and national funding for key projects, and led initiatives in HR, governance, and digital transformation.  Her leadership is key to advancing Malta’s connectivity agenda. She works with government, regulators, and international partners to strengthen systems, improve service delivery, and promote sustainable mobility. As a leading female executive, she is redefining women’s roles in strategic decision-making and setting new standards for impact in traditionally male-dominated sectors. 

Keynote speaker  

Jay Robert is an Italian-American award-winning journalist turned senior cabin crew member and aviation storyteller. His unique perspective from both the newsroom and the aircraft cabin has made him a trusted voice on the global airline industry. His insights are frequently sourced by major media outlets around the world, including the BBC, HuffPost, BuzzFeed, The Telegraph and many others.

Through his aviation platforms and social media presence, Jay connects millions of aviation professionals and travelers, sharing stories from inside the industry while highlighting the people who keep the world flying. His content reaches up to 90 million monthly views and more than 1.6 million followers across his social media platforms. He talks on  the power of social media to connect transport professionals around the world, the power of posts to uplift the image of women in male-dominated industries, and how your social media can inspire and impact the next generation of female transport professionals. 

Dr Bonnie Attard is a warranted mechanical engineer, graduated from the University of Malta in 2012 and later earned a PhD from the University of Birmingham, specialising in the additive

manufacturing of superalloys for jet engine applications. She began her career as an R&D engineer in the medical product manufacturing industry before moving into systems engineering with the Institute of Sustainable Energy.

Since 2020, Bonnie has worked in academia, initially with the Department of Metallurgy and

Materials Engineering at the University of Malta, and currently with the Institute for Engineering

and Transport at the Malta College of Arts, Science  & Technology. Her research focuses on the  application of additive manufacturing or advanced materials used within  the transportation sector.

Bonnie has served on the Executive Council of the Chamber of Engineers since 2021. Much of her

work has centred on promoting initiatives that inspire greater student interest in engineering and

STEM careers. Her commitment to public engagement and research communication earned her the Engaged Researcher Award at the Esplora National STEM Awards 2023.

She has served as President of the Chamber of Engineers since 2025, where she leads national

initiatives that elevate the profession’s visibility and influence. Among these are flagship projects

such as the Annual Engineering Conference and the Malta Engineering Excellence Awards, which

strengthen the profession’s profile both locally and internationally. Her work is grounded in building strong, collaborative relationships across industry, academia, and the wider engineering community. She actively champions educational outreach, inspiring future engineers through initiatives including Engineer Your Career Goes Live, the DRIVE STEM programme, and support for national efforts such as I Choose, Tiny Teen and Teen Science Café. Bonnie is also a committed advocate for engineers’ representation in national policy discussions. She works closely with multiple stakeholders to ensure the engineering profession’s voice is heard, respected,  and meaningfully integrated into Malta’s strategic development.

Dr Spiteri is a lawyer with expertise spanning commercial, competition, maritime and aviation law. A graduate in Law (LL.D.) from the University of Malta, she also holds a Magister Juris in European and Comparative Law. She further completed an LL.M. in International Maritime Law at the IMO International Maritime Law Institute, earning Distinction on a scholarship awarded by the Institute’s Governing Board. She is the founder of Asteria Advisory, a boutique firm specialising in marine and aviation legal and advisory work. Her professional practice has focused on managing ship- and aircraft-owning companies, ship and yacht registration, aircraft registration, and the sale and purchase of yachts, ships, and aircraft. She views both aviation and space law as a natural extension of her grounding in public international maritime law, particularly the law of the sea and the doctrine of the common heritage of mankind. Geraldine has also been a director at the Maltese Office for Competition and served as judicial assistant.  Alongside her advisory work, she lectures in commercial, maritime, fisheries, and aviation legislation. Outside professional life, she enjoys the sea, socialising, the arts, her cats, boating and contributing to causes that make a positive difference — passions that mirror and inspire her professional journey. 

Taryn Mizzi is the Brand Manager for Porsche Malta, leading and overseeing the complete operations of the Porsche brand, from strategic direction and brand positioning to commercial performance, network alignment, and high-level stakeholder engagement. Porsche forms part of Mizzi Motors, one of Malta’s leading automotive groups.

With over 18 years in the automotive sector, she has consistently driven growth, strengthened brand equity, and delivered commercial results across globally recognised marques including Nissan, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, and Porsche. She also serves as a Board Member of the Association of Car Importers (ACIM), contributing to strategic industry dialogue and policy development within the transport sector.

Dr Katrina Abela is a seasoned lawyer specialising in Aviation and Maritime Law, with a primary focus on aircraft and yachting transactions, regulatory compliance, and structured ownership solutions. She graduated from the University of Malta in 2013 and has since developed extensive experience in advising aircraft owners, operators, and investors on complex cross-border matters.

Dr Abela regularly assists clients with aircraft sale and purchase transactions, importation and registration procedures, customs and VAT structuring, and operational compliance. She has played a key role in supporting multiple operators in obtaining a Maltese Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC), acting as the principal liaison between applicants and local authorities, and providing strategic guidance throughout the certification process.

Dr Abela is a proud member of the Chamber of Advocates, the Malta Business Aviation Association, the Malta Maritime Law Association, and the Advocacy Committee of the European Business Aviation Association.

Tamara Pavlovic represents Malta in the Federation of European Women Pilots, actively promoting the visibility and advancement of women in aviation across Europe, Liaison contact for Malta Ministry of Home Affairs during the Malta International Air show, 

She is also a commercial Skipper (yacht master) a active regatta competitor and organizer of international sailing events including women's regattas, Committee member of the Viking Sailing club, Subcommittee member of the Royal Malta Yacht Club, Founder of "Afloat" - an exclusive C-level networking yacht event launching March 2026.

Christabel Gatt, is the Chief Operating Officer and one of the Directors at Zampa Partners. She is an ACCA Qualified Accountant who has been working at the firm and specialising in VAT for over ten years.

She is also among the first three professionals in Malta to obtain the EU VAT Expert Degree, a degree awarded by VAT Forum, a partnership of international VAT experts registered in Belgium. Prior to her appointment as COO in January 2025, Christabel led the firm’s VAT division and was a key member of the management team, with particular focus on quality at large. She continues to act as COO while leading the Yachting division and expanding her VAT expertise across both the yachting and aviation sectors.

Capt Julie Garland BL, FRAeS is the Founder and CEO of Avtrain - one of Europe’s leading drone training and consultancy organisations setting the standards for others to follow. She is a former Airline Training Captain, Aircraft Maintenance Engineer, Barrister at Law, Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and President of JEDA- Joint European Drone Associations; prior to undertaking her position as CEO of Avtrain she was the Director Compliance for Norwegian Air International.
She is the founding Chair and current Vice-Chair of the Unmanned Aircraft Association of Ireland, the President of Joint European Drone Associations (JEDA) and holds the EASA Stakeholder Advisory Body (SAB) Plenary seat representing all of the European Drone and UAM Industry. Julie is also the JEDA representative on JARUS – the Joint Authorities for Rulemaking on Unmanned Systems where she is Vice-Chair of the JARUS Industry Stakeholder's Body Steering Committee. She sits on the UK CAA UAS Advisory Comittee. She also a member of the Board of Advisors for the Estonian Aviation Academy (EAVA), the Ireland Liaison for the Advanced Air Mobility Institute, a member of the Flight Safety Foundation Autonomous and Remotely Piloted Aviation Capabilities (ARPAC) Advisory Committee, sits on the UKRI Future Flight Challenge Advisory Board and is a Royal Aeronautical Society Mentor for aspiring aviators.

 Rhythm Garg is a sixth form student and youth activist passionate about the intersection of space and climate. She is an ambassador for Girls Go STEM, an initiative by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, and also serves as the Director for the Environment within the Malta National Youth Council. A vocal advocate for women in STEM, she has spoken at the Women and Girls in STEM Forum 2024 and led workshops on AI gender bias, as well as co-engineered the award-winning pill extractor for JA Malta’s 2025 Company of the Year, Simplex.  

 'Dr Inġ. Brian Zammit is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Electronic Systems Engineering at the University of Malta. His research focuses on optimisation of aircraft operations, aviation safety systems, and the application of artificial intelligence in air traffic control and on the flight deck. Dr Zammit is also actively involved in STEM outreach and public engagement through the Faculty of Engineering and serves on the PR Subcommittee of the Malta Chamber of Engineers. In addition, he provides consultancy services to industry and has served as a court expert in cases involving electronic failures and aviation accidents. '

 Dr De Giovanni graduated with an honours degree in psychology at the University of Malta in 1997 attaining the shield for best dissertation. She qualified as an Organisational Psychologist in 2003 with an MSc from Birkbeck College, University of London and also holds a Fellowship from the British Psychological Society. In 2012, Dr De Giovanni successful defended her PhD which she read at the University of Nottingham where she specialised on School to Work Transitions. Dr De Giovanni also holds the ATCL and ALCM in pianoforte performance and was the first Maltese person to qualify with an FTCL in Music Education. She is former chair of the Board of Directors of the Social Care Standards Authority and the Malta Psychology Profession Board. Dr De Giovanni privately works as a motivational coach and consultant in Organisational and Aviation Psychology but is currently the Chief Operations

Office (Academia) at the Institute of Tourism Studies. She was a former Director of the University of Malta Cottonera Resource Centre within the University of Malta where she was also a full time resident academic in psychology. Dr De Giovanni is also a Visiting Professor in Organisational Psychology at the

Universita’ degli Studi, Padova. She is also an elected member of the House of Representatives in Malta being the first female to be ever elected from the fourth district. Dr De Giovanni is the Head of Delegation for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean and Chair of the Social Affairs

Committee. She also represents the Government of Malta on the Welfare Committee and the on the

Council for Children.

 Luke Cassar Toggeggiani is currently working with Hyperion Aviation as a junior flight ops and will join the GenZ panel. After finishing school in Malta, he went to the UK to study and gain a broader understanding of the aviation industry where he also earned his Private Pilots License. After leaving  the UK and returning to Malta, he began working at Hyperion Aviation as part of their Flight Operations department. Simultaneously, he also started working towards his ATPL which he is still working towards today. 

Ruth Sawers, entrepreneur and business women, she began  aviation journey began 8 years ago with the initial set up of 2   foreign aviation companies in Malta at Director level after many years in her native Scotland within Oil and Gas  and subsea.

In 2019 she founded Women in Aviation Malta her initial aim to share experiences and support other women in Malta, over the years WIAM has snowballed in to so much more, boasting over 2000 online members with just over 200 active individual members, and over 20 corporate partners and growing. Offering monthly networking opportunities for  members and staff of corporate partners, specifically  designed to increase both industry knowledge and build the  confidence to move into leadership roles.  Support through the mentorship programme is now offered to every MCAST student studying in Aviation, Marine and Transport, helping to bridge the gender gap and address industry skills shortages. 2024 saw her move "WiAM" into a ltd company offering these services to industry and 2026  launched Marine and transport wings, WIAM becoming "WIAM & T. "

A new journey with fresh challenges.  

Captain Iona Muscat obtained her Undergraduate and her Master’s degree in Archaeology from the University of Malta, in 2008 and 2012 respectively. As a post-graduate, she specialised in cultural heritage management and worked at Heritage Malta as a Curator for Malta’s UNESCO World Heritage Prehistoric Sites. In 2014, she enlisted into the Armed Forces of Malta and got her overseas training with the Irish Defence Forces Cadet School. Upon her return as a junior officer, Captain Muscat served at the Armed Forces of Malta Training School, initially as an educator and subsequently in the command element of the School. Following successful selection for an ab-initio pilot course in 2019, she pursued her rotary-pilot training in Italy and returned to Malta to serve as a helicopter pilot in the Operations Squadron of the AFM Airwing. Her experience in cultural heritage management together with her military aviation career have contributed significantly to her avid interest in cultural heritage, diplomacy, and military operations. She intends to continue to pursue both her military and archaeological interests and to combine these fields in future multidisciplinary research. 

Rodianne Sciberras is an Operations Data Analyst at Lufthansa Technik Malta within the Planning & Engineering Department, where she contributes to projects and digital process improvements that support aircraft maintenance operations.

She develops production-ready software and analytics solutions, including Python automation for operational workflows and data analysis that generates actionable insights. Her technical interests include data engineering, machine learning, and SQL for relational databases, alongside business intelligence tools such as Power BI and Tableau. Rodianne holds an academic background in Physics and Medical

Physics and also works as a Research Support Officer at the University of Malta, focusing on electrooculography (EOG) signal classification and backend development to translate eye-movement signals into device control actions. She was also the 2025 winner of WiAM& T Rising star award! 

Clare Aguis, having worked in the TV Industry in Malta for over 2 decades, She acquired the skills of Interviewing and facilitating conversations across all types of people from Heads of States to the average man on the street.   She produced, present s and is very active in marketing and strategic planning of the commercial enterprises who support my initiatives.  Acting, a long term passion of mine since she was 15 years old, has taken her worldwide and has participated in numerous productions along the years mainly on stage but also on the Big Screen.  Has done commercials, voice overs, hosted major National events, moderated Conferences and served as an influencer in her country on issues she believes in from Mental Health, to the Environment.