Dr Raylene Abdilla is a Senior Teaching Associate at the International School for Foundation Studies, having joined the University of Malta in 2019. Within the Humanities Stream, she is responsible for the delivery of study-units focusing on the humanities and social sciences, psychology, and communication theory.
Dr. Abdilla obtained her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Malta in 2026. Her doctoral thesis, titled "The People and Its Enemies: A Discourse Theoretical Approach to Populism and the European Union," utilised a poststructuralist lens to analyse the discourses shaping EU governance in times of crises and populist dissent.
She holds a Master of Arts in European Politics, Economics and Law (2015), where her research adopted a cosmopolitan approach to the European political landscape, and a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) in Banking and Finance (2011).
Her interdisciplinary research interests are centered on poststructuralist discourse theory, hegemony studies, and populism studies. Her work is deeply influenced by the Lacanian and post-Marxist traditions, often incorporating psychosocial analysis to examine the complexities of European Union politics.
