Professor Lino Briguglio, former Director and current member of staff of the Islands and Small States Institute (ISSI) has been appointed by the President of the UN General Assembly to form part of a 12-member high-level panel of experts on the development of a multidimensional vulnerability index for small island developing states.

A statement by the University of Malta (UM) says that the appointment followed the UN Secretary General’s recommendations on developing the index within the United Nations system.

The panel is composed of 12 members, made up of a diverse pool of experts drawn from the public sector, academia, civil society, and the private sector.

Malta’s Professor Briguglio is a scholar of repute, well-known internationally for his seminal work on the economic vulnerability and the economic resilience indices.

Together with his research associates, he also developed the Vulnerability and Resilience Framework, which attempted to explain why small states succeed economically in spite of their high degree of economic vulnerability.

Stefano Moncada, Director of the ISSI, highlighted that "the Islands and Small States Institute of the University of Malta confirms its key role as a centre of excellence in islands and small state studies.”

Dr Moncada adds that “the work of Prof. Briguglio is a testimony of the ongoing contribution that the ISSI has been giving to academia and policy".

Further information about the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI) for SIDS can be accessed here.