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In January 2007, in the context of a European Joint MA programme that I was preparing to launch at the University of Malta together with the universities of Rome, Paris and Poznan (Poland), we ran a conference to which we invited one of the top neuroscientists in the world, Giacomo Rizzolatti. The title we gave to that confernece was " Interdisciplinarity - the Only Way to Go ". We called it that because our Master's programme brings together disciplines which seem to be unbridgeable - Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Psychology, Philosophy, Sport Sciences, Business, Management and Performer Studies. I met Franco only some three weeks ago and in that meeting I realised ever more how true our conference title was.

We were in the office of Joseph FX Zahra, at Management Intelligence Services Company Ltd, in Mriehel. Joe had called the meeting to propose to Franco to join our newly created Foundation - Oikonomos, The Foundation for a Creative Society . Sitting around that table we were Joe, with his extensive experience in Business Management, Economics and Marketing, Franco, with his background of Finance and Accountancy and now Business Consultant and myself, with my background of research in Performance and Performer Pedagogy and my 15 year long collaboration with Neuroscientist Richard Muscat, as well as my work in the Master's programme. Suddenly Franco's world class stature in Martial Arts emerged. In a moment I understood the extraordinarily tangible resonance between our concepts, our visions, our terminology and our attitude. At that point I felt I had to demonstrate to him a performer training exercise I had designed and developed over the last 15 years, an exercise which is at the foundations of my research. And then it was Franco's turn to understand. We left that meeting but went on with our discussion over lunch.

At our next meeting I introduced him to Richard Muscat, who is also Pro-Rector of the university of Malta and co-director of the Master's programme with me. It was revealing to see the same resonance striking immediately between Franco and Richard.

Over the week in which I met Franco we happened to be running a week-long seminar to conclude the proceedings of the first academic year of our European Master's programme. On the spur of the moment I asked him to make a presentation in that seminar, focussed around how his formation in Martial Arts has affected his business managment acumen. The programme's international group of students, hailing from France, Italy, China, Greece and Malta, were held spell-bound by his presentation, which Franco gave at a couple of days' notice.

If ever there was any doubt in my mind that interdisciplinarity is, indeed, the only way to go, then meeting Franco has dispelled that. Moreover, if ever there had been a slight shadow of doubt in my mind as to whether or not creativity is truly empowered by our working upon our selves in order to refine our brain's motor programme, which is at the very foundations of what it means to be Human, then that slight shadow of doubt would have been dispelled by that meeting, too.

Dr John J. Schranz, 18 June 2008