Miss Sumeya Loonat

Job: Senior International Student Lecturer

School/department: Leicester Castle Business School

Address: De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH

T: +44 (0)116 207 8484

E: sloonat@dmu.ac.uk

W: https://www.dmu.ac.uk

 

Personal profile

Sumeya is Senior International Student Lecturer, based in the Faculty of Business and Law. Sumeya's role focuses on enhancing the quality of the international student experience and leading staff development initiatives in relation to learning and teaching pedagogy for international students. 

Sumeya's research expertise includes: internationalisation of higher education, decolonial studies and inclusive practice. Her research uses a critical perspective and counter-storytelling approach to disrupt deficit narratives of international students. 

Sumeya is a DMU Teacher Fellow and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She also holds the position of Fair Outcomes Champion for the Decolonising DMU project. 

Research group affiliations

Institute for Research in Criminology, Education and Social Justice

Publications and outputs

Loonat, S., & Hall, R. (2024). Disciplinary guide: Decolonial Studies. Research with International Students. Available at: https://researchintlstudents.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/DisciplinaryGuide_DecolonialStudies_LoonatHall2-1.pdf

Hall, R., Ansley, L., Connolly, P., Loonat, S., Patel, K., & Whitham, B. (2021). Struggling for the anti-racist university: learning from an institution-wide response to curriculum decolonisation. Teaching in Higher Education26(7–8), 902–919. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2021.1911987

 

Research interests/expertise

  • Internationalisation strategies in UK Higher Education
  • Experiences of international students 
  • De/postcolonial studies
  • Intersectionality and EDI

Areas of teaching

  • Inclusive pedagogy
  • Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education
  • Education: Inclusion and Diversity 
  • Academic Writing
  • Learning Development

Qualifications

  • BA Hons Politics and International Relations
  • MA English Language Teaching
  • Post Graduate Certificate- Learning and Teaching in Higher Education
  • Doctoral Researcher

Honours and awards

Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy

DMU Teacher Fellow

Faculty of Business and Law BAL of the Ball Awards 2023- Outstanding Contribution to International Engagement Award

Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CAITE) 2023 Winner, Decolonising DMU 

Green Gown Awards 2023 Winner, Decolonising DMU 

Membership of external committees

 

Membership of professional associations and societies

UKAT (UK Advising and Tutoring) member

 

Projects

Academic Innovation Project 2023-2024, Pedagogical uses of generative AI tools to enhance the Academic English skills of international students (in collaboration with colleagues from the Centre of English Language Learning and Library and Student Services)

Academic Innovation Project 2023-2024, The impact on Muslim students of the current Student Loans regime on student engagement and retention in Higher Education (with Professor Richard Hall and Yusraa Maryam)

Conference attendance

Loonat, S., and Hall, R. (2024) Reimagining pedagogies with international students: Anti-racist perspectives. Decolonising Academic Practice Workshop, Birmingham City University

Loonat, S., and Hall, R. (2023) Reimagining research with international students: Anti-racist perspectives. Research with International Students Conference, University of Manchester 

Loonat, S. (2023) Decolonising the international student experience, Reimagining Higher Education: Journeys of Decolonising, Decolonising DMU conference.

Loonat, S & Towlson, K (2022) Creating an anti-racist university: DDMU two years on, sharing progress and impact, Advance HE Learning and Teaching Conference, July 2022

Basra, H, & Loonat, S (2022) Decolonising More Than Just the Curriculum-Tips and Tricks, Nottingham Trent University and London Metropolitan University, June 2022

 

Basra, H, & Loonat, S (2022), A Toolkit to Build an Anti-Racist University-Decolonising DMU Tips, Tricks and Takeaways, DMU, May 2022

Loonat, S, Cai, X, Zhang, D (2022) Building a sense of belonging for international students: insights from International Student Lecturers, UKAT Annual Learning and Teaching Conference, April 2022

Basra, H, & Loonat, S (2022), Decolonising DMU-Sharing Good Practice York, St John University, February 2022

Hall, R & Loonat, S (2022) NHS Pharmacy Education Summit: EDI, Decolonising DMU: Building the Anti Racist University

Basra, H, Croft, M, Loonat, S & Towlson K (2021) Keynote: Decolonising DMU: Building the Anti Racist University, DMU Business and Law TaLEnt conference, July 2021

Basra, H, Croft, M, Loonat, S & Towlson K (2021) Decolonising DMU: How we can make our teaching truly inclusive, Advance HE Learning & Teaching Conference July 2021

Basra, H & Loonat, S (2021) Creating an anti-racist classroom, Race Equality Colloquium-Decolonising Pedagogy, Advance HE, June 2021

Loonat, S, (2021) Language and Learning: Breaking Barriers to Success, Open University Inclusive SIG, April 2021

Loonat, S, Cai, X, Zhang, D (2021) Language and Learning: Breaking Barriers to Success, UKAT Annual Learning and Teaching Conference, April 2021

Craig, J, Honeyman, V, Loonat, S, Statham, A, Williams, H (2021) Roundtable: Futures of Political Studies Education in the UK, Political Studies Association, March 2021

Basra, H, & Loonat, S (2021) Decolonising More Than Just the Curriculum, Midlands Academic Practice Group, University of Birmingham, March 2021.

Loonat, S, & Towlson, K (2021) Storytelling as the practice of freedom: A transgressive pedagogy to enable decolonising in the classroom, DMU Learning & Teaching Conference, February 2021

Basra, H, & Loonat, S (2021) Developing an Anti-Racist Pedagogy through a PGCAP. Edinburgh Napier Learning & Teaching Seminar Series

Loonat, S, Cai, X & Zhang, D (2021) What you say matters: assessing unconscious bias in academic language, DMU Learning and Teaching Conference, September 2020

Current research students