Anthony Abela

His research interests included comparative European values studies, sociology of the family, sociology of religion, youth, gender, poverty, and social policy. Until his premature death on April 4, 2006, at the relatively young age of 52, he was an associate professor of Sociology and Social Policy.

He began teaching at the University of Malta in 1985, and in 1990, taught at the Gregorian University in Rome. He was principal investigator of the European Values Study in Malta, Member of the European Values Steering Committee at Tilburg in the Netherlands, and served as Evaluator and Reviewer of social research projects for the European Commission. He was also the Non-Governmental Maltese Expert on Poverty and Social Inclusion for the European Commission. For three years he was director of the Institute of Social Welfare at the University of Malta.

Anthony Abela (1954–2006) was a major Maltese sociologist. He mostly specialised in values.

Abela was born at Floriana, Malta, in 1954. He began his studies at the University of Malta, from which he acquired a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy (1976), and pursued further studies at the Gregorian University in Rome, Italy, from which he acquired a bachelor's degree in Theology (1982). He also studied at the Centre Sèvres in Paris, France, from which he acquired a master's degree in Theology (1984); at the Loyola University of Chicago, U.S. (1987); and at the University of Oxford, England, from which he acquired a doctorate in Sociology (1990).