Adrian joined the Faculty of Theology at the age of 22. After graduating in education he pursued his studies in Catechetics and Youth Ministry at the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome. In May 2005 he was awarded the doctorate with Summa cum Laude after successfully defending the thesis, Adapting Religious Education to Individual Students’ requirements: A means of being faithful to the Pedagogy of God in the classroom. The Salesian University honoured him with the University’s Medal. In these past years he has published and researched on a wide range of subjects especially in the fields of Children’s Spirituality, and Religious Education. His academic interests have led him to organise the International Conference on Children’s Spirituality, to be nominated as a Theological Advisor to The Center of Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescents, Minnesota, USA, and to be accepted as an associate member of the International Seminar on Religious Education and Values (ISREV).

Adrian is also actively involved in ministry within the Maltese Archdiocese. He was member of various diocesan bodies and contributed in the local Synod. At present he is the Co-ordinator for Religious Education in School within the Secretariat for Catechises and a Board member of the Pastoral Formation Institute.

Monographs

• Adrian GELLEL, Adapting Religious Education to Individual Requirements. A means of being faithful to the Pedagogy of God in the classroom, Malta: Foundation for Theological Studies 2007.
  

Edited Journals

• International Journal of Children’s Spirituality. Special Issue: Valuing the language of intergenerational wisdom in the spiritual education of children, 12/1 (2007).

Chapters in Books

• Adrian GELLEL, Spiritual Formation of Children in the Catholic Church, in Karen-Marie YUST, Aostre N. JOHNSON, Sandy EISENBERG SASSO, and Eugene C. ROEHLKEPARTAIN (eds.), Religious Perspectives on Spirituality in Childhood and Adolescence, USA: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006. pp. 83-94.
• Adrian GELLEL, Adapting to the Requirements of the individual in the R.E. Classroom, in Marian DE SOUZA, Kathleen ENGEBRETSON, Gloria DURKA, Robert JACKSON, and Andrew MCGRADY (eds.) International Handbook of the Religious, Spiritual and Moral Dimensions of Education, Netherlands: Spiringer 2007.
  
  Forthcoming:

• Adrian GELLEL and Mark SULTANA, An A-Secularist Itinerary from Pre-Secular to Post-Secular Society. A Study of the Maltese Scenario in Hans-Georg ZIEBERTZ and Ulrich RIEGEL (eds.) Europe as a postsecular Society. Reflections on Religion and Societal Cohesion.

Refereed Journal Articles

• Adrian GELLEL, Valuing the language of intergenerational wisdom in the spiritual education of children, in International Journal of Children’s Spirituality. 12/1 (2007). pp. 1-3.

Reports

• Adrian GELLEL, Report on the Religion Examination Papers for Admission into Junior Lyceums and Church School, in Grace GRIMA et al. (eds.) in press.
  
• Adrian GELLEL et al., Spiritual formation in Catholic Schools. A report presented to the Kunsill tas-Superjuri Maġuri Reliġjużi. unpublished report 2007.

Non-refereed Journal Articles

• Adrian GELLEL, The Individualised Pedagogy of Christ, in Melita Theologica 52/1 (2001). pp. 51-66.
  
• Adrian GELLEL,  Dmirijietna lejn il-ħtiġijiet Spiritwali tat-Tfal, in Knisja 2000 11/45 (1998).

Book Reviews

• Adrian GELLEL, review of Grahan HAYDON, Values, virtues and violence: education and the public understanding of morality, Oxford: Blackwell 1999, in International Journal of Children’s Spirituality 9/1 2004. pp.108-110.

Papers Read

• Adrian GELLEL, Doing Theology through the Affective Dimension, a paper presented at the Theological Encounters, Faculty of Theology, Malta February 2006.
  
• Adrian GELLEL, Can Cognitive Style predict Scholastic Performance? A study of 13 year olds, in Interactive Multiple Perspective on Effective Learning Environment. 11th Biennial Conference, Nicosia, Cyprus: a conference organised by the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction 2005.
  
• Adrian GELLEL, Respecting the environment. A Christian Perspective, in Caring for Future Generations: An inter-religious Educational Agenda. Malta: a conference orgainsed jointly by the Future Generations Programme and UNESCO 2000.