Izabella Apostolov is the recipient of the first-ever Consumers' Association Malta Outstanding Dissertation Award.

This Award is funded by the Consumers' Association Malta, which recently closed its operations after 40 years of active service to Maltese consumers.

It was the sincere wish of Mr Benny Borg Bonello, the President of the association, who recently passed away, that the remaining funds would be donated to the University of Malta and be channelled towards the funding of final year projects of students willing to explore a topic related to consumers.

The award was presented to her on Tuesday 25th March 2025, by the University’s Pro-Rector for Research & Knowledge Transfer, Prof. Ing. Simon G. Fabri, UM Registrar, Dr Colin Borg, and Director of Doctoral School, Prof. Nicholas Vella. 

They were on the selection board of experts that chose the current awardee, together with Chev. Prof. Renald Blundell who previously served as the President of the Consumers’ Association and represented Malta in Brussels at the European Consumers Consultative Group (ECCG).

Ms Apostolov’s dissertation involved Investigating the use of sustainable menstrual products among university students in Malta.

“This award is definitely a testament to my hard work and on a professional level, it definitely reinforces my commitment to environmental advocacy", she said, before saying her passion for sustainability, coupled with her being raised in South Africa where she witnessed period poverty first-hand, and her mother’s work towards addressing these challenges, are the three things that inspired her to go down this route.

Ms Apostolov graduated in November 2024, with First Class Honours, with a BSc (Hons) in Earth Systems. She also served as the Vice President & Interim Sustainability Officer of ESA, the Earth Systems Association throughout the academic year 2023-2024.