Dr Seda Battilani
e-Learning Developer
Contact details
- Email: seda.battilani@ed.ac.uk
Background
Seda is an e-Learning Developer in the Digital Education Unit at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Medicine. She is mainly responsible for e-learning development and guidance for online postgraduate programmes that are part of the Data-Driven Innovation project.
Seda has ten years of experience as an e-learning developer, educator and researcher across K12 as well as academia, and various industries including learning & development, social media management, and academic proofreading and translation. She holds an MSc in Applied Linguistics (University of Edinburgh) and a PhD in TESOL/Education (University of Stirling).
Her research mainly focuses on multilingual communication and co-learning inside and outside pedagogical settings.
Qualifications
PhD TESOL, University of Stirling
MSc Applied Linguistics, University of Edinburgh
BA TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), Istanbul University
Responsibilities & affiliations
Easter Bush EDI Engagement Lead
Neurodiversity Champion
Research summary
My research focuses on effective communication and multilingualism in applied, interdisciplinary contexts. I am particularly interested in how individuals develop communication skills in linguistically diverse environments, and how policy, technology, and pedagogy interact to shape these practices. Drawing on linguistic ethnography and co-learning methodologies, my work explores the everyday strategies learners and educators use to negotiate meaning, particularly in under-resourced or non-traditional learning settings. This includes examining translanguaging, mobile-assisted learning, and grassroots language practices, with a view to informing inclusive language education, equitable policy design, and innovative learning development in educational contexts and beyond.
Current research interests
My current research explores curriculum innovation, communication pedagogy, and digital design in higher education, with a disciplinary focus on the veterinary sciences. I am particularly interested in how scenario-based learning, client partnerships, and affectively resonant pedagogies can support professional identity formation and inclusive communication training for students at R(D)SVS. Through a PTAS-funded project on simulated client engagement, I examine how student learning is shaped by authentic interpersonal encounters and the intergenerational, emotional, and social dynamics that emerge in these settings. The study draws on mixed methods to explore how communities of practice are formed in veterinary education, and how client participation contributes to both pedagogical value and community resilience.Project activity
Researcher on the PTAS Project "Clients as Partners in Education: Valuing and Developing Relationships"
Conference details
“Clients as partners in education: Experiences of “authentic” simulated communication training“, Co-presenter, VetEd Veterinary Education Symposium 2025, University of Bristol, 4 July 2025
“Designing Inclusive Digital Assessments with Scenario-Based Learning”, Presenter, Association for Learning Technology (Digital Assessment SIG), 25 March 2025
“Landscaping as process”: co-learning cultural competence in the semiotic assemblage of the Turkish barber”, “Linguistic Landscape Workshop 13”, Hamburg, 8 September 2022
“The Circassian Diaspora in Turkey: language education and how grassroots initiatives can help”, “Foundation for Endangered Languages XXV Annual Conference: Endangered Languages and Diaspora (Special theme: The State and Study of Arbëresh as an Endangered Diaspora Language)”, Tirana, 6 December 2021
“Migration to Scotland: translanguaging practices and semiotic repertoires at a Turkish barber,” Languaging in Times of Change: International Conference, the University of Stirling, Scotland, 26-27 September 2019
“Lost in translation?: Medium of instruction at higher education institutions in Turkey,” 13th Annual Lancaster Postgraduate Conference in Linguistics and Language Teaching, Lancaster University, England, 12 July 2018
Invited speaker
“Dil ötesi uygulamalar: Çoklu dil kullanımına radikal bir bakış açısı (Translanguaging: a radical framework for multilingual communication)”, “Ling Days”, İstanbul Aydın University, Online, 23 June 2021
“Geçmişten Bugüne Dil Aktivizmi (Language activism yesterday and today)”, İstanbul Kafkas Kültür Derneği (İstanbul Caucasian Culture Association), Online, 14 March 2021
“Geçmişten bugüne dil aktivizmi (Language activism yesterday and today)”, Tehlike Altındaki Diller için Dijital Aktivizm Eğitimi (Digital Activism Workshop for Endangered Languages), Laz Institute, Online, 12 February 2021
“Migration to Scotland: translanguaging practices, semiotic repertoires and identities at a Turkish barber,” Language in Context Research Group, the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, 24 January 2020
Papers delivered
Battilani, BS & Topçu, M. (2021). The Circassian Diaspora in Turkey: language education and how grassroots initiatives can help. In Derhemi, E. (Ed.), Foundation for Endangered Languages XXV Annual Conference: Endangered Languages and Diaspora (Special theme: The State and Study of Arbëresh as an Endangered Diaspora Language).