Dr Edward Wright is a full-time academic within the Department of Pastoral Studies, Liturgy and Canon Law, Faculty of Theology, at the University of Malta, and also contributes to teaching within the Faculty of Education. His interdisciplinary research brings education and Religious Education into dialogue with theology, psychology, philosophy, spirituality, and media and communications.
His principal research interests include Catholic Religious Education, narrative and critical pedagogies, narrative-hermeneutical approaches to education, adolescent spirituality, meaning-making and identity formation, human vulnerability and resilience, multimodality, digital and creative pedagogies, and holistic teacher formation.
A central concern within his scholarship is the relationship between narrative, meaning-making, identity, spirituality, and holistic human formation. Drawing particularly upon narrative-hermeneutical perspectives, his research explores how persons interpret and narrate lived experience through stories, relationships, memories, metaphors, symbols, religious traditions, and creative expression. Within Catholic Religious Education, his current work examines how learners' lived experiences can enter into dialogue with Scripture, theological tradition, religious and secular worldviews, and contemporary culture. This research engages particularly with Paul Ricoeur's narrative hermeneutics and Karl Rahner's theological anthropology and understanding of transcendence.
Related strands of his scholarship examine adolescent spirituality and meaning-making within post-secular and pluralistic contexts; vulnerability, hope, resilience, and human flourishing; and the contribution of photography, filmmaking, multimodality, and digital technologies to creative and relational pedagogies.
Wright completed his doctorate at Bournemouth University, where his research investigated how digital technologies, particularly photography and filmmaking, can facilitate adolescent meaning-making and identity formation through narrative pedagogies. Before joining the University of Malta full-time, he spent 25 years in education, including 13 years as a Head of Department. His experience as a teacher, teacher educator, trainer, and mentor continues to inform his research into teacher formation, wellbeing, and holistic education.
PLC5019 - Applying Creative Pedagogies in Religious Education through Effective Media Technologies
Wright, E. (2026). “Facilitating God’s Revelation through Meaning-Making: Applying a Narrative-Hermeneutical Approach to Religious Education.” In K. Schembri & J. Berry (Eds.), Beyond Certainty: Reimagining Faith in a Changing World: Volume 1 (pp. 133–163). Malta University Press.
Wright, E. (2026). “Facilitating the Journey of Adolescent Spirituality Through Catholic Religious Education in a Shifting Landscape: The Quest for Authenticity, Community and Meaning-making in a Post-secular Context.” In G. Attard & C. Camilleri (Eds.), Spirituality: In-between the Post-Traditional and the Post-Secular. Proceedings of the 3rd Spirituality Colloquium, 24–25 April 2025. Horizons Publications. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20514292.
Bezzina, A., & Wright, E. (2025). “Using Artificial Intelligence for Personal, Social and Career Development: Possibilities and Challenges.” Malta Journal of Education, 6(1), 61–79. DOI: 10.62695/KHRP4909.
Wright, E. (2024). “Exploring the Affordances and Propensities of Multimodality in Narrative Pedagogies through Multimodal Ethnography.” Malta Journal of Education, 4(1), 165–197. DOI: 10.62695/AHHO3850.
Wright, E. (2021). “Voicing the Longing of the ‘Adolescent Heart’ through Photography and Film: Connecting Transcendence and Revelation in Catholic Religious Education.” The Person and the Challenges, 11(1), 123–168. DOI: 10.15633/pch.3888.
Wright, E. (2020). “Facing the Challenge of Preparing Maltese Schools and Students for a Multicultural Society: An Opportunity to Redefine Identity in the Light of ‘Otherness’.” Malta Journal of Education, 1(1), 316–346. DOI: 10.62695/BHZH1354.
Wright, E. (2019). “Using Digital Technologies to Interpret Life: Media Literacy and Catholic Religious Education in Dialogue.” In M. T. Buchanan & A.-M. Gellel (Eds.), Global Perspectives on Catholic Religious Education in Schools: Volume II: Learning and Leading in a Pluralist World (pp. 369–380). Springer Singapore. DOI: 10.1007/978-981-13-6127-2_30.
Wright, E. (2018/2020). “Nurturing Identity Formation in Adolescence through Narrative Learning: A Dialogue between the Pedagogies of Media Literacy and Religious Education.” British Journal of Religious Education, 42(1), 14–24. Published online 2018; issue publication 2020. DOI: 10.1080/01416200.2018.1484696.
