Alicja Syska

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Dr Alicja Syska

 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4728-4891

    Overview

    Profile summary

    I am an interdisciplinary scholar and Lecturer in Humanities and Education with two decades of experience at the University of Plymouth. I currently lead the Humanities Foundation programme, a role that draws heavily on my extensive background in Learning Development and History.

    As a Principal Fellow of Advance HE (PFHEA), I am committed to exploring and supporting effective educational practices and academic scholarship. Beyond my teaching and research, I contribute to the academic community through my involvement as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, Lead Editor of the Plymouth Institute of Education Online Journal and as co-host of The Learning Development Project podcast. My research and publications reflect my diverse interests and focus on enhancing student learning experiences and connecting academic and pedagogic missions of the university.

    I have published two co-edited books: How to Be a Learning Developer in Higher Education (2023) maps out the field of Learning Development in UK HE while critically engaging with this academic practice, while Transformative Practice in Higher Education: Innovative Approaches to Teaching and Learning (2025) explores the transformations in teaching after the pandemic.

    Roles on external bodies

    Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education (JLDHE)
    Steering Group member of Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE) 
    External Collaborator at the International Legal Communication Research Center, University of Warsaw

    Professional memberships

    Principal Fellowship of Advance HE (PFHEA)

    Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE)

    Teaching interests

    I teach across undergraduate modules and International Ed.D., as well as supervising B.A., Ph.D., and Ed.D. students.

    Current modules:

    Humanities Foundation: SSC301 Discover Your Inner Academic

    Humanities Foundation: SSC309 Imagining the Past

    History: HIS4002 America from Settlement to Empire

    Education: EDST619 Troubling Gender and Sexualities

    Education: EDD801 Evidence and Education Policy

    Supervised research degrees

    Ed.D. in Education, Director of Studies: ‘Context Matters: Re-Imagining Creative Higher Education for the Anthropocene through Criticality, Complexity, and Oddkin Communities of Connection & Reflection’ (2025-)

    Ed.D. in Education, second supervisor: ‘Conceptualising pupil voice – listening and hearing pupil experience(s)’ (2023-)

    Ph.D. in Education, Director of Studies: ‘How can informal education and intercultural competence development become more accessible to forcibly displaced people through social innovation and social entrepreneurship in Plymouth’ (2022-)

    Ed.D. in Learning Development, External examiner: 'The framing and value of Learning Development work in British Higher Education: An illuminative evaluation of professional practice', University of Portsmouth (2023)

    M.A. in Art History (ResM), second supervisor: ‘Philip Guston’s Absurd and the Sisyphean Affirmation in the Battle for Existentialism’ (2021)

    M.A. in Art History (ResM), third supervisor: ‘Norman Lewis on the Peripheral: The Relationship of an African American Artist and the Abstract Expressionist Movement through the Decades, 1930-1950’ (2021)

    Additional information

    On a more personal note:
    I was born and raised in communist Poland. As a teenager I watched the Solidarity movement triumph and the democratic forces take over. Two degrees later and impatient at the pace of transformation, I packed my bags and moved to America, with my little girl in tow. Both enchanted and intrigued by the country and its culture, I decided to pursue a Doctoral degree in American Studies. This commitment ushered in the most challenging, rewarding, and illuminating years of my life, and allowed me to grow expertise in an area that keeps shifting and surprising. Subsequently, I made my home in the U.K., where I fulfill my personal and professional ambitions through teaching, publishing and research, and working closely with students, which is an absolute delight of my professional existence. 
    My guiding thought: keep learning and keep moving.
    My favourite philosophy: Albert Einstein's 'Make things as simple as possible, but not simpler'.

    Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

    In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

    • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
    • SDG 4 - Quality Education
    • SDG 5 - Gender Equality

    Academic qualifications

    22 Education and teaching, Other, Principal Fellowship of Advance HE (PFHEA), Advance HE

    Award Date: 30 May 2025

    22 Education and teaching, Other postgraduate qualification (e.g. PGCE, Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma), Postgraduate Certificate of Academic Practice (PGCAP), University of Plymouth

    Award Date: 31 May 2013

    20 Historical, philosophical and religious studies, Doctorate, Ph.D. in American Studies: 'Eastern Europe in the Making of American National Identity', Saint Louis University

    Award Date: 17 Sept 2008

    15 Social sciences, Other higher degree (e.g. Masters degree), M.A. in Sociology of Human Behaviour, University of Szczecin

    Award Date: 31 May 2001

    15 Social sciences, First Degree, B.A. in Sociology of Human Behaviour, University of Szczecin

    Award Date: 31 May 1999

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