Peer Mentoring

Steering Group Member
Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education 

Dr Alicja Syska is Editor-In-Chief at the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, which she has led since 2019. She is a Lecturer in Humanities and Education at the University of Plymouth where she previously also held a decade-long post in Learning Development. She has a Ph.D. in American Studies from Saint Louis University, USA, is a Principal Fellow of Advance HE (PFHEA) and an ALDinHE Senior Fellow, and she co-hosts the Learning Development Project podcast. Her interests include writing, community building, Third Space identity, and researcher development.

Anne-Marie Langford leads the LD Health COP. The Learning Developer Health and Social Care Community of Practice facilitateS peer-based, collaborative learning between Learning Developers at all levels who have an interest in students of Health and Social Care. We recognise that these students have particular characteristics which may pose specific challenges for educators working in this area. The ‘social learning’ nature of communities of practice ensures that our capabilities can be developed collaboratively offering opportunities for new ways of working to be explored. The community co-creates activities which share experience and encourage reflection.

Chenée is a learning developer, an artist, and a walker. She uses creative approaches in her teaching and is always looking to innovate her practice. Her primary interests lie in learning beyond the campus and exploring how walking fosters creativity. She has an MSc in Digital Education from the University of Edinburgh. She is currently a member of the ALDinHE Mentoring Working Group. She is a Senior Fellow of Advance HE and a reviewer for the Collaborative Award in Teaching Excellence for Advance HE.

Jane is a learning developer at Glasgow Caledonian University, where she has worked with health and life sciences students since 2008. She is an Advance HE Senior Fellow, an ALDinHE Certified Leading Practitioner and an accredited sport psychologist. She enjoys supporting individuals to reach their potential and has mentored colleagues and contributed to the development of mentoring schemes for learning developers. She joined the ALDinHE Peer Mentoring Group in 2020. In addition to teaching academic literacies, Jane uses her psychology background to embed psychological skills, self-understanding and positive mindset in practice. She has a particular interest in how individual characteristics, most notably perfectionism, influence learning and student wellbeing and she is undertaking research in this area.

Jennie joined the LearnHigher Working Group in December 2017 and became the Co-chair in 2021. She is also a Co-chair of the Neurodiversity/Inclusion Community of Practice. Her interests include technology-enhanced learning and inclusive teaching practices. She is a qualified dyslexia tutor, a Certified Leading Practitioner of LD, a Senior Fellow of HEA and has an MA in Education (SEND and Inclusion). Outside of ALDinHE, she is Co-chair of ALT East England and one of the regional co-ordinators in London, South-East & Anglia for the Association of Dyslexia Specialists in Higher Education. She has over twenty years of teaching experience and currently works as an Academic Skills Tutor at the University of Hertfordshire for the Hertfordshire Business School.

Dr Jodi Gregory has been a lecturer since 2005, starting out teaching ESOL in further education before moving into learning development in higher education. As a qualitative researcher, Jodi is interested in the situated, lived experiences of mature students. Based in Cumbria, she enthusiastically brings her love of the great outdoors into her work with students. She lives on a Herdwick sheep farm and hangs out with the trees in her free time. 

Karen has worked as a Learning Development Adviser at Arts University Plymouth for 8 years, following a successful first career in the financial sector. Her MA Education research centred on the juxtaposition of dyslexia as a [dis]ability in HE, demonstrating her commitment to an equitable learning experience for all students. She facilitates communities of practice for neurodivergent staff and students at AUP and co-chairs the ALDinHE Neurodiversity/Inclusivity Community of Practice. She is a Certified Practitioner in Learning Development, and has recently applied for her Advance HE Senior Fellowship.

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.

Nicola Clarke is a senior fellow of the AHEA, leads on the community of practice for reflection and is a senior lecturer in the faculty of health education and life sciences and a registered mental health nurse. Nicola has over 20 years experiencing of teaching nursing, reflection and academic skills in higher education. She is also the faculty advisor for recognition of prior learning and professional navigation for CPD, a doctoral supervisor and examiner. Nicolas teaching and publication interests are the learning and teaching of reflection. She also have a passion for supporting staff to support students in their academic development, designing assessment and marking rubircs.

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.

Steering Group Member
Chair of the Peer Mentoring Group

Sandra Sinfield SFHEA and CeLP, is Senior Lecturer and University Teaching Fellow in the Centre for Professional and Educational Development at London Metropolitan University, a co-author of Teaching, Learning and Study Skills: a guide for tutors and Essential Study Skills: the complete guide to success at university (5th Edition), and one of the co-founders of the Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDHE). Sandra has worked as a laboratory technician, a freelance copywriter, and an Executive Editor (Medicine Digest, circulation 80,000 doctors). With Tom Burns, she has developed theatre and film in unusual places – their Take Control video won the IVCA gold award for education – and is interested in creativity as emancipatory practice in Higher Education.

Profile coming soon

Silvina has been a Learning Developer at Canterbury Christ Church University since 2012. During her time at CCCU she has worked on the development of online learning materials, peer-mentoring schemes and embedding academic literacies in academic programmes. She has an MA in TESOL (EAP), has achieved CeLP status and is an Advanced HE Fellow. She has been a member of ALDinHE Research, Scholarship and Development Working Group since 2016.

Co-Chair of the Peer Mentoring Group

As a Learning Developer Ursula Canton works with STEM students, arts students and education students at different universities and under different titles (Senior Lecturer / Glasgow Caledonian University; Effective Learning Tutor /Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Associate Tutor / University of Glasgow). In all of these roles she draws on her experiences from her first academic life (MA Language and Literature; PhD in Theatre Studies) and current research interests in evaluating writing interventions, writing process(es) and academic and professional literacies. She is keen on contributing to the development of Learning Development through formal and informal routes, including taking a leading role in developing ALDinHE’s mentoring programme, co-chairing of ScotHELD (Scottish Higher Education Developers) and sharing her insights through informal chats and mentoring, as well as publications.