Dr Faith Dillon-Lee

Head of English Language in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

  • Centre for Open Learning
  • English Language Education
  • College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences

Contact details

Address

Street

Paterson's Land
Holyrood Road

City
Edinburgh
Post code
EH8 8AQ

Availability

  • Mon-Fri, 9am - 5pm.

Biography

Background

Faith Dillon-Lee has a PhD in English Literature, focusing on the psycho- and sociological effects of fiction on belief formation. She also holds a Master's Degree in Applied Linguistics and ELT, as well as numerous teaching qualifications.  She is the web developer for the Teacher Education in EAP Special Interest Group, and is currently an External Examiner for Marino Institute of Education's IFP programme. She has been a PhD External Examiner for Kingston University (Kingston School of Art).

Faith has extensive experience in teaching and learning, curriculum & materials development, student engagement, achievement and progression, and education for empowerment. She has worked in Higher Education for over a decade and in leadership roles since 2019. Faith began her career in education through community development projects, including work with young offenders and learners with SpLDs, as well as overseas volunteer work. Her practice is based on dialogical pedagogies and critical learning theories.

As part of her current role, Faith oversees the English language component of the CAHSS International Foundation Programme (https://cahss.ed.ac.uk/international-and-study-abroad/foundation-programme) and Academic Language and Literacies (ALL) for CAHSS (https://www.ed.ac.uk/english-language-teaching/programme-partnerships).

Qualifications

  • PhD. Brunel University.
  • Postgraduate Certificate of Higher Education (PGCert HE). Middlesex University
  • MA. Applied Linguistics and ELT. King's College London
  • Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (DELTA). Cambridge University English Language Assessment
  • Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA). Cambridge University English Language Assessment
  • BA (hons); Drama, Theatre, and Television. Winchester University (previously King Alfred's College)

Responsibilities & affiliations

  • Fellow, Advance HE
  • Committee Member, TEd in EAP Special Interest Group
  • Committee Member, CoL Operational Delivery Committee

Current research interests

Critical Pedagogies, Pedagogies of Hope, Neurodiversity Support, Learner Engagement & Empowerment, Academic Misconduct, Generative AI/AI Literacies, Traditional and Indie Publishing, Fandom Creative Works (Literature), Fandom Communities & Participation

Knowledge exchange

Dillon-Lee, F. & Haldane, J. (2025) Teamwork makes the dream work: Working with student Alumni on syllabus co-construction for the University of Edinburgh's IFP for the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences in InForm, 14 (March), pg. 31-33

Haldane, J.; Davies, P.; Dillon-Lee, F. (2024) Co-Creation, creativity, and course design: Three Cs for success! in Teaching Matters, online at https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/teaching-matters/co-creation-creativity-and-course-design-three-cs-for-success/ (accessed 01.06.26)

Peksa, J. & Dillon-Lee, F. (2020) The Price of Knowledge in the Times of Commodification of HE: A Case Study on the Changing Face of Education in World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Educational and Pedagogical Sciences, 14 (9), pg. 671-675.

Pitt, A.; Bernaschina, P.; Celini, L.; Dillon-Lee, F.; Endacott, N.; Lazar, G; Thomas, P.; Wilkinson, G. (2019). Educational Development and Embedding Academic Literacies in Sarah Brewer, Alison Standing, and Gemma Stansfield (Eds.) Insessional English for Academic Purposes. Pg. 71-82. Renfrew: BALEAP 

Pitt, A.; Dillon-Lee, F. (ND) Trust Creativity, Create Trust, in Fred Dervin & Julie Byrd Clark (Eds.) Demystifying Critical Thinking in Multilingual and Intercultural Education. To be published by Info Age Publishing.

G. Wilkinson; A. Pitt; F. Dillon-Lee (2015). Becoming an Academic: New Experiences in Research for Enhancing Teaching and Learning, ICERI2015 Proceedings, pp. 1014-1020.

Papers delivered

BALEAP PIM (2025). Crossing the Borders: Bringing Subject Courses and Academic Languages and Literacies Together. Herfordshire, UK.

END (2017). Volcanoes, Mermaids, Castles and Forests: Utilising Creativity to Enhance Student Achievement and Engagement with University Services. Lisbon, Portugal.

Plagiarism Across Europe (2017). Diversity, Unity and Integrity. Brno, Czech Republic 

GLADD (2016). ‘Nurturing Critical Engagement & Cross Disciplinary Inspiration through Creative Expression’, Birmingham, England

PALA (2016). Bridging the communication gap between researchers and practitioners. Cagliari, Italy 

PALA (2016). Fanfiction: Participation, theft, or innovation? Cagliari, Italy

IAFOR (2016). Gender, Justice, and Feminism in the Modern American Sitcom. Brighton, UK

Plagiarism Across Europe (2015). Implicit Attitudes Towards Plagiarism, Brno, Czech Republic

Annual Teaching and Learning Conference (2014) Trust Creativity, Create Trust, London, England

COST New Speakers Network (2014). The Possible Effects of EIL/ELF on Monolingual Native English Speakers’ Management of their Linguistic Identity, Edinburgh, Scotland

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