Continuous Professional Development

Steering Group Member without Portfolio

Chair of the Continuing Professional Development Community of Practice

I am a Learning Development Tutor at the University of Northampton, having joined in 2018. Prior to this I taught in primary education for over a decade, and before that, worked in the arts. My background connects with my ongoing interest in creative and active learning. My current research interests centre on the use of metaphor in learning and teaching, and on active learning within Learning Development. I joined the Steering Group in 2024, and am the Deputy Chair of the ALDinHE Continuous Professional Development (CPD) Working Group and the Lead for the CPD Community of Practice. I am a Fellow of Advance HE, and a Certified Practitioner in Learning Development (CeP).

Member of the ALDinHE CPD working group

I am a member of the CPD working group with direct involvement in the development of content for one-to-one tutorials.

I am a member of the ALDinHE CPD working group that is looking at supporting students with online learning.

Elina Stylianou is a Student Development Coach at the University of Leeds, supporting students at the Faculty of Social Sciences to thrive academically. She has a PhD in TESOL; she designed and delivered a novel intervention to explore the use of a culturally familiar literary text in teaching English as a foreign language. She has a bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature and a master’s in English Literature. Her academic experience includes roles as a Teaching Fellow in TESOL and an Academic Skills Tutor. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Recognised Senior Advisor, and her research interests include literature in EFL teaching and academic skills provision in Higher Education. She is a member of the ALDinHE CPD working group.

I am an Academic Learning Advisor at the University of Leeds, working to embed academic and assessment literacies within the School of Education and the School of Politics & International Studies. I have worked within the HE sector as both an academic lecturer and learning developer for several years and have significant experience of secondary and further education fields. My scholarship interests include students as partners, inclusive teaching & assessment practices, and developing student research dissemination.

Heather manages the University of Surrey’s Academic Skills & Development team comprising Learning Development Advisers and Learning Development Librarians. A key research area is inclusive and holistic learning development encompassing cognitive, affective and emotional aspects of a learner’s journey.

This informed her contributions to developing an institutional approach to ‘Resourcefulness and Resilience’ (one of five key ‘pillars’ of Surrey’s Curriculum Framework) and the development of team projects exploring learner support for ‘study wellbeing’ and transitions, as well as contributions to student guidance for the effective use of Artificial Intelligence.

Heather is a member of ALDinHE’s Professional Recognition and EDI groups.

Joy is a Learning Development Tutor at Birkbeck, University of London where she works under the Education and Student Experience Directorate supporting the academic skills development of students within Birkbeck Law School and the School of Creative Arts, Culture, and Communication. She is interested in teaching and research related to academic writing, teaching through literature, critical approaches to pedagogy, and Learning Developers’ identity and professional development.  Joy is a qualified primary teacher and has also taught on university pre-sessional EAP courses.  She is a Fellow of ALDinHE and an Advance HE Fellow (FHEA). She holds an MEd (Cantab), PGCE (Southampton), LPC, GDL (University of Law), BSc (Brunel), and CELTA qualification. She is the author of Doing Learning Development in Higher Education: A Practical Guide for New and Early Career Learning Developers published by Routledge.

Steering Group Member

ALDinHE Chair

Kate is Associate Dean at BPP University. She is an Advance HE Senior Fellow, a Certified Leading Practitioner in Learning Development, a National Teaching Fellow (NTF), a Collaborative Award in Teaching Excellence (CATE) winner and an Associate Professor in Educational Practice. Kate joined the ALDinHE Steering Group in 2019 as Secretary and became Co-Chair in 2023 and Chair in 2025. Kate’s background includes working for City of London Law Firms and Investment Banks. She moved into higher education nearly 20 years ago; in her current role she is able to utilise her corporate experience alongside her academic credentials which she really enjoys. Kate undertakes research upon a wide variety of areas: resilience, student attainment, progression and retention, CPD, the award gap, as well as the impact of Learning Development.

I am an Academic Skills Adviser at the University of Sheffield.  My work involves supervising and training Study Skills Tutors, and responding to student feedback and support requests through our workshops and 1:1 appointment support for Study Skills.  I work within the 301 Academic Skills team, providing centralised support to all students at all levels.  I am a Senior Fellow of the HEA, and a HEA application assessor at my institution.

My research and teaching background is in work psychology and well-being at work, and my recent PGCert research has explored the experiences of students who work alongside their academic studies compared to other students.  I am using these findings to update the types of support we offer; improving accessibility for students with other commitments, and developing our time management support to consider a wider range of challenges students may be juggling.  I am also a member of the Research Community of Practice.

Maria King is a Student Education Development Advisor and HEA Senior Fellow at the University of Leeds, supporting staff to develop their teaching and learning practice and achieve professional recognition through the PGCAP and HEA Fellowship schemes. Maria sits on the peer mentoring group as a representative of the Neurodiversity and Inclusivity Community of Practice and also brings her lived experience of being neurodivergent to this group and wider work at her institution delivering support and training on improving your teaching and learning practices through an accessibility lens. Her other professional interests include punk pedagogy, evidence synthesis and literature reviews in HE education, critical information literacy and knowledge practices, and the role of third space professionals in HE.

I’m a member of the CPD Working Group and currently in a group working on some resources for “Running an Effective Tutorial”.

Steering Group Member

Chair of the Continuing Professional Development Working Group

Sam Thomas is an Academic Support Manager at Wrexham University. She has worked in Learning Development for over eight years. She is a Senior Fellow of Advance HE, an ALDinHE Certified Practitioner and an active member of ALDinHE. Her focus is to provide services to those with additional needs including non-traditional and distance learners, and to support colleagues to develop their skills through mentoring.