Dr Alicja Syska

Qualifications

Professional membership

Senior Fellowship of Advance HE (SFHEA)

Roles on external bodies

Teaching interests

As a Learning Developer, I focus on building students' academic confidence by helping them develop strong academic skills, such as writing, presentation making, conducting research, and working collaboratively. Appreciating students’ passion for their subject specialisms, I make my LD workshops bespoke to the Faculty of Arts, Humanities & Business programmes, which highly enhances student engagement. Each academic year I deliver over 60 workshops and see over 120 students for one-to-one tutorials, which altogether allows me to have an impact on thousands of students annually.

Research interests

I work across two areas: Learning Development and History, and, as such, my research interests span both fields. 

Within Learning Development, my interests include, but are not limited to: student writing in Arts and Humanities, student voice and engagement, employability, interdisciplinarity, learning identities, and mentoring. I am currently conducting a research study into student perceptions of blended learning and working on projects designed to facilitate publishing in learning development.

In the field of History, I'm 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. I have recently written two case studies that provide guidelines for students on how to work with primary sources, such as posters and film (forthcoming, November 2021, Matthew Digital/Sage Publishing).

Grants & contracts

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).

Reports & invited lectures

INVITED TALKS

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.

Syska, A. (2006) 'Dialectic of the Banana Skirt' at The Sheldon Art Galleries, Saint Louis, USA.

OTHER LECTURES

Webinar: 'Supporting the Scholarship of Learning Development', LD@3 ALDinHE (2021)

Eyes on America: Rethinking Popular Culture – English, History & History of Art 6th Form Conference (2015)

Annual lectures for the Shanghai Summer School as well as Open Days for Schools, at Plymouth University (2014-2017) 

Annual workshops for Children's University (2012-18)

CONFERENCES

'Turning knowledge into power: From presentations to publications', Association for Learning Development in Higher Education Annual Conference (online), 2021.

'Students’ perceptions of blended learning', Association for Learning Development in Higher Education Annual Conference (online), 2021.

'Using visual sources to develop analytical thinking', Association for Learning Development in Higher Education Annual conference, University of Northampton (online), 2020.

'The Art of Reviewing' (with the JLDHE editorial board), Association for Learning Development in Higher Education Annual conference, University of Northampton (online), 2020.

'Marathon Running: The damages of wellbeing' (with Victor Ladron de Guevara), Association for Medical Humanities Conference, University of Plymouth, 2019.

'Lights, Camera, Learning: Teaching with the Moving Image', Learning of Screen and School of Arts, Birkbeck, University of London, 2018.

Poster: ‘Stand Out: A Creative Approach to Employability for Humanities Students’, Vice-Chancellor’s 16th Annual Teaching and Learning Conference. University of Plymouth, 2018.

‘Stand Out: Profiles in Employability’, Vice-Chancellor’s 15th Annual Teaching and Learning Conference. University of Plymouth, 2017.

Poster: Writing as a creative exploration with image as a pedagogical tool. Vice-Chancellor's 14th Annual Teaching and Learning Conference, Plymouth University, 2016.

'Writing With Charlotte: Image as a pedagogical tool to facilitate academic writing'. Writing Development in Higher Education Conference, Plymouth University, 2016.

'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, 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, 2013.

'Black Origins of the American Self: W.E.B. Du Bois's Nationalistic Project.' BAAS 57th Annual Conference in Manchester, 2012.

'Rhetorics of Vision: Narratives of Eastern Europe in American Discourse.' HCA Spring Academy, Heidelberg Center for American Studies, 2007

'Methodological Challenges'—panel chair, Postgraduate Conference 'Thinking Gender' at the University of Leeds, 2006

'Tolerance for Ambiguity: Dialectics of Evangelical Feminism.' Postgraduate Conference 'Thinking Gender' at the University of Leeds, 2006

'Visualizing Distinctions: Constructing Public Identities Through Images'—panel chair, Mid-America American Studies Association Conference in Saint Louis, 2006

'Remapping Eastern Europe in America: "Us" and "Them" in Photographs', Mid-America American Studies Association Conference in Saint Louis, 2006

'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, 2005

'Dialectics of the Banana Skirt: Who Made Josephine Baker?' National Popular Culture and American Culture Associations Conference, San Diego, 2005

'Double Consciousness: W.E.B. Du Bois and Gender', Mid-America American Studies Association Conference in Lawrence, Kansas, 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, 2004

Other academic activities

Additional information