Denise Mifsud

I am interested in exploring critical leadership theories, with a particular interest in educational leadership, especially distributed forms; school networks and educational reform; as well as initial teacher education. I engage with Foucauldian theory; Actor-Network theory, as well as qualitative research methods, with a particular focus on narrative, in addition to creative and unconventional modes of data representation. 

I have over two decades of practitioner experience in education settings in both teaching and high-level leadership roles within the Maltese Ministry for Education, besides being an independent education researcher and consultant. I previously held a full-time lecturing post at the University of the West of Scotland as well as being a part-time lecturer at the University of Malta. I am also an Associate Fellow of the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Educational Research within the same university. 

I was awarded my PhD by the University of Stirling in 2015. My PhD thesis, 'Raising the curtain on relations of power in a Maltese school network', explored the unfolding of networking in school governance in a Maltese college (cluster of primary and secondary schools) via the performance of policy-mandated collegiality, the flow of power relations, and leadership distribution. I also have a Master of Science in Educational Leadership by the University of Leicester (2008), prior to which I obtained a Bachelors in Education with First Class Honours from the University of Malta (1999).

As Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Educational Leadership, Management and Governance, I teach on the Doctor of Education (EdD) and MA Education programmes, as well as the Education with Psychology undergraduate programme.

I am interested in supervising PhD students in topics related to my research interests.

Research interests:

• critical leadership theories, with a particular interest in educational leadership, especially distributed forms
• leadership for social justice
• school networks and educational reform
• power relations within educational institutions/organizations
• educational policy analysis, generation, reception and enactment
• initial teacher education
• Foucauldian theory
• Actor-Network theory
• qualitative research methods, with a particular focus on narrative, as well as creative and unconventional modes of data representation