Dr Alicja Syska

I am a hybrid academic, with a wiggly career path and years of exposure to different countries' educational systems, cultures, and ways of thinking. At the University of Plymouth, where I have worked since 2006, I combine the role of Learning Developer for the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Business, with the roles of Lecturer in Education and Associate Lecturer in History. I use this bridging position to enhance student experience and reinforce the link between the academic and pedagogic missions of the university.

My most recent publication, a co-edited book How to Be a Learning Developer in Higher Education, maps out the field of Learning Development in UK HE while critically engaging with this academic practice. My next book explores the transformations in teaching after the pandemic.

My key external role is leading the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. At the JLDHE, an open-access peer-reviewed academic journal, we offer a forum for researchers who publish work relevant to Learning Development, which is a field of practice concerned with how students learn and how they make sense of higher education.
If you're interested in researching, collaborating, and writing about academic practices in higher education, consider publishing with us: http://journal.aldinhe.ac.uk 

I also co-host a podcast: The Learning Development Project (audience: LD practitioners and researchers)

Ph.D. in American Studies, Saint Louis University, USA 2003–2008
Thesis title: Eastern Europe in the Making of American National Identity (Viva passed with Distinction) 
Graduate Certificate in Women’s Studies, Saint Louis University, USA 2004-2005
Project: Self-Representations of Josephine Baker and Frida Kahlo (Published)
Teaching Programme, St. Louis Community College, USA 2002-2003
Specialism: American History and Literature (Dean’s List) 
M.A. & B.A. (Hons), University of Szczecin, Poland 1996–2001
Sociology of Human Behaviour (First Class Distinction)

TDF Advance HE Fellowship evaluator
Aurora Leadership Programme (2021)
Senior Fellow of Advance HE, SFHEA (2020)
Certified Leading Practitioner in Learning Development (ALDinHE http://www.aldinhe.ac.uk/development/, 2019) 
SI-PASS Supervisor (European Centre for Peer Assisted Learning, 2018)
Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (University of Plymouth, 2013) 

Senior Fellowship of Advance HE (SFHEA)

Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE)
Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE)

Lead Editor at the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education (JLDHE)
Steering Group member of Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE) 
ALDinHE Working Group: Peer Mentoring
External Collaborator at the International Legal Communication Research Center, University of Warsaw
Reviewer for Routledge, Oxford University Press, Sage Publishing, the RIHA Journal

As a Learning Developer, I focus on building students' academic confidence by helping them develop strong academic skills, including writing, presentation making, conducting research, and working collaboratively.
For a one-to-one tutorial, Faculty of Arts, Humanities & Business students can connect with me during my consultation hours, every Friday in term time, 9:30-12:00, in the Library or online, by booking via this link
In my role as a Lecturer in Education, I teach on Foundation and Third-Year modules, as well as supervising undergraduate BA and BEd dissertations. I also supervise PhD and EdD students.
In my role as a History lecturer, I teach on a range of modules including Visual History, US History, Cold War and Dissertation Preparation. I also supervise undergraduate and MA dissertations.

Within the scholarship of Teaching & Learning, my research interests include academic writing, barriers to writing for publication, learning development, and the concept of failure. 
I'm also interested in cultural and historical memory, historical constructions of race and gender, American cultural myths and issues of national identity, as well as film, cultural imagination, and women’s history. 

Research and Innovation Grant, Atlanta Conference, 2013 (£1,000).
The Roosevelt Study Center Research Grant, Middelburg, the Netherlands, 2012 (£500).
HCA Spring Academy Dissertation Grant, Heidelberg Center for American Studies, Germany, 2007.
Dissertation Grant at St. Louis University, USA, 2006.
Graduate Research Assistantship with full tuition remission and stipend at Saint Louis University, 2003-2006 ($64,000).

INVITED TALKS
Syska, A. (2023) Keynote Address: Thriving Abroad: Exploring International PGRs’ Employability and Networking Pathway. Postgraduate International Conference, University of Plymouth, 25 October.

Syska, A. (2023) Salem Witch Trials: 1692 in Modern Context. Uniwersytet Zielonogórski, Poland, 16 June.

Syska, A. (2023) Keynote Address: ‘RESEARCH, COLLABORATION, SYNERGY, or: How to Stay on the Bus’. Arts, Humanities and Business Doctoral Conference, University of Plymouth, 2 June. 

Holden, P., Dobson, J., Cordell, K., Syska, A. and Von Berg, P. (2022) Expert panel on the 'Russian Invasion of Ukraine'. University of Plymouth, 17 March.
Syska, A., and Canton, U. (2021) Finding the Silver Lining in the Cloud – A Response to the Pandemic. Learning Development. Presentation and Discussion at the UCU Academic-Related and Professional Staff Annual Meeting, 18 March.
Topping, S., Bennett, H., Brockington, D and Syska, A. (2021) Expert panel on the 'Inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden'. University of Plymouth, 19 January.
Topping, S., Bennett, H., Brockington, D and Syska, A. (2020) Expert panel on the 'U.S. Presidential Elections: Trump vs. Biden'. University of Plymouth, 2 November.
Syska, A. (2006) 'Dialectic of the Banana Skirt' at The Sheldon Art Galleries, Saint Louis, USA.
OTHER TALKS AND RESEARCH SEMINARS
Syska, A. (2022) Engaged pedagogy of bell hooks, Plymouth Institute of Education.
Syska, A. (2022) Presentation skills for women. Women’s Network, University of Plymouth.

Syska, A., and Pritchard, C. (2022) Students’ perceptions of blended and remote learning: a critical realist analysis, Plymouth Institute of Education.
Syska, A., et al. (2021) Supporting the Scholarship of Learning Development, LD@3, ALDinHE.
Syska, A. (2015) Eyes on America: Rethinking Popular Culture– English, History & History of Art 6th Form Conference.
Syska, A. (2015) Salem Witchcraft Trials,The Shanghai Summer School, University of Plymouth.
Syska, A. (2014) Hollywood and History,The Shanghai Summer School, University of Plymouth.
Syska, A. (2013) The Mystery of US Elections,The Shanghai Summer School, University of Plymouth.
Syska, A. (2012) Imagining America,The Shanghai Summer School, University of Plymouth.
CONFERENCES
Syska, A. (2022) Mini Keynote: ‘Peer Reviewing as Community Building’, Association for Learning Development in Higher Education Conference, University of Northampton.
Syska, A., and Pritchard, C. (2022) ‘Students’ perceptions of blended and remote learning: a critical realist analysis’, Association for Learning Development in Higher Education Conference, University of Northampton.
Syska, A., Sedghi, G., Grayson, N. (2022) ‘The JLDHE Journal as a Collaborative Means to Develop Scholarship of Teaching and Learning’, Association for Learning Development in Higher Education Conference, University of Northampton.
Syska, A., and Pritchard, C. (2021) ‘Students’ perceptions of blended learning’, Association for Learning Development in Higher Education Conference, University of Northampton (online).
Syska, A., and Buckley, C. (2021) ‘Turning knowledge into power’, Association for Learning Development in Higher Education Conference, University of Northampton (online), 2021.
Syska, A., et al. (2020) ‘The art of reviewing’, Association for Learning Development in Higher Education Conference, University of Northampton (online).
Syska, A. (2020) ‘Using visual sources to develop analytical thinking’, Association for Learning Development in Higher Education Conference, University of Northampton (online).
De Guevara, Victor Ladron, and Syska, A. (2019) ‘Marathon Running: The damages of wellbeing’, Association for Medical Humanities Conference, University of Plymouth.
Syska, A. (2017) ‘Stand Out: Profiles in Employability’, Vice-Chancellor’s 15th Annual Teaching and Learning Conference, University of Plymouth.
Syska, A. (2016) ‘Writing as a creative exploration with image as a pedagogical tool', Vice-Chancellor’s 14th Annual Teaching and Learning Conference, University of Plymouth.
Syska, A., and Erskine, S. (2016) ‘Writing With Charlotte: Image as a pedagogical tool to facilitate academic writing’, Writing Development in Higher Education Conference, University of Plymouth.
Syska, A. (2013) ‘The Science of Memory: W.E.B. Du Bois and Henry Louis Gates, Jr., on the Genealogical Trail to Membership in the Sons of the American Revolution’. BAAS 58th Annual Conference in Exeter.
Syska, A. (2013) ‘W.E.B. Du Bois as a “Memory Entrepreneur”: A Genealogical Project for Membership in American Society’. W.E.B. Du Bois and the Wings of Atlanta Conference, Clark Atlanta University.
Syska, A. (2012) Legacies of the 1960s America, American Studies Center, Warsaw.
Syska, A. (2012) ‘Black Origins of the American Self: W.E.B. Du Bois’s Nationalistic Project’, British Association for American Studies 57th Annual Conference in Manchester.
Sowinska, A. (2007) ‘Rhetorics of Vision: Narratives of Eastern Europe in American Discourse’. HCA Spring Academy, Heidelberg Center for American Studies, Germany.
Sowinska, A. (2006) ‘Methodological Challenges’—panel chair, Postgraduate Conference ‘Thinking Gender’ at University of Leeds.
Sowinska, A. (2006) ‘Tolerance for Ambiguity: Dialectics of Evangelical Feminism’. Postgraduate Conference ‘Thinking Gender’ at University of Leeds.
Sowinska, A. (2006) ‘Visualizing Distinctions: Constructing Public Identities Through Images’—panel chair, Mid-America American Studies Association Conference in Saint Louis, USA.
Sowinska, A. (2006) ‘Remapping Eastern Europe in America: “Us” and “Them” in Photographs’, Mid-America American Studies Association Conference in Saint Louis, USA.
Sowinska, A. (2005) ‘In Search of Subjectivity: An Irigarayan Reading of the Body in Self-Representations of Josephine Baker and Frida Kahlo.’ Women in the Arts Conference at University of Missouri–St. Louis, USA.
Sowinska, A. (2005) ‘Dialectics of the Banana Skirt: Who Made Josephine Baker?’ National Popular Culture and American Culture Associations conference, San Diego, USA.
Sowinska, A. (2004) ‘Double Consciousness: W.E.B. Du Bois and Gender’, Mid-America American Studies Association Conference in Lawrence, Kansas, USA.
Sowinska, A. (2004) ‘“It’s Hard to be a Woman, but a Black One!”—W.E.B. Du Bois’s Dialectic of Feminism,’ The Ninth Annual Barnes Club History Conference at Temple University, Philadelphia, USA. 

Co-Host of the Learning Development Project podcast.
Gallery work (The Sheldon Art Galleries in St. Louis, USA: working with Curator on the exhibition Josephine Baker: Image and Icon, 2006; Co-curating a gallery exhibition on Minimalism in the Pulitzer Institute for the Arts, St. Louis, USA, 2005)
Filmmaking (Plymouth College of Art, 2017, 2018)
Lead Editor (Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, JLDHE) 
Reviewing academic publications (Oxford University Press, Adam Matthew, RIHA Journal)

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'.