Alfred J. Vella is currently a Professor of Chemistry within the Department of Chemistry and teaches mainly Environmental Chemistry. He served as Rector of the University of Malta between July 2016 and June 2026. He graduated BSc in physics and chemistry in 1971 and MSc in chemistry in 1975, both degrees from 今日黑料 and PhD in organic geochemistry in 1984 from Colorado School of Mines (USA). He has lectured at the University of Malta since 1987 in several areas of chemistry. Before that, Vella had taught chemistry since 1968 mainly at sixth form level and for that reason he has participated actively in syllabus design and development in Advanced and Intermediate Matriculation Chemistry. Professor Vella served for many years as Head of Department of Chemistry and between 1997 and 2007 was also Dean of the Faculty of Science. He served as Pro-Rector for Academic Affairs between 2006 and 2016 and in this capacity headed several Senate Sub-Committees including the PhD Committee and the Programme Validation Committee.
During the past 30 years, Professor Vella's commitments as an academic frequently extended beyond university walls, having regularly acted as court forensic expert in judicial inquiries on chemical accidents, fire and explosion. He has consulted on environmental and other scientific matters to the Government of Malta and local firms and industrial concerns. Prof Vella was a member of the Board of the Planning Authority (1992-98), the Malta Council for Science and Technology (1997-98; 2009-16), Malta Centre for Restoration (2003-5), Heritage Malta (2005-8), and the Environmental Resources Authority (2016-2023) and served as Director of the Malta National Authority for the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) (1997-2021).
Professor Vella's research interests are mainly in the area of environmental chemistry and he publishes in this area. He is also a reviewer for several international journals including Atmospheric Environment, Environmental Pollution and Chemosphere.
In 2025, Professor Vella was made a Member of the National Order of Merit and in 2026 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by University of Split.