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 was awarded the People’s Choice Award at the Three-Minute Thesis competition. 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, in the UK. She is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and her research interests include literature in EFL teaching and academic skills provision in higher education. She was the leader of the media team, on the registration team and a session chair at the BAAL Vocab SIG Conference 2024.