呻吟之王

More

Dr Sumeya Loonat

Job: Senior International Student Lecturer

School/department: Leicester Castle Business School

Address: 呻吟之王, The Gateway, Leicester, LE1 9BH

T: +44 (0)116 207 8484

E: sloonat@dmu.ac.uk

W:

 

Close all sections
Open all sections

Personal profile

Sumeya is a 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 the internationalisation of higher education, de/postcolonial studies and inclusive practice. Her research adopts a critical perspective and a counter-storytelling approach to disrupt deficit narratives of international students in UKHE. 

Sumeya is a 呻吟之王 Education Academy Fellow and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She has also held the position of a Fair Outcomes Champion for the Decolonising 呻吟之王 project. 

Research group affiliations

Institute for Research in Criminology, Education and Social Justice

Publications and outputs

  • Hall, R. Ansley, L., Loonat, S., Nemouchi, L., Al-Saedi, O., Ashrafali, H., Khalifa, D., Shah, M., Shifan, S., Maryam, Y. and The Aziz Foundation (2025). Being and Becoming: British Muslim Students’ First-Year Journeys in Higher Education. 呻吟之王/The Aziz Foundation.
  • Hall, R., Maryam, Y., and Loonat, S. (2025) The Impact of the Current Student Loans Regime on Muslim Student Engagement and Retention in English Higher Education. Leicester: 呻吟之王.
  • Loonat, S.  (2024) For students, by students: building belonging and community for international students at 呻吟之王. Case study in: Jisc (2024) Sector examples of improved practice in supporting the digital experience of international students (ISDX Briefing Paper 5). Bristol: Jisc, p. 8. Available at:
  • Loonat, S., & Hall, R. (2024). Disciplinary guide: Decolonial Studies. Research with International Students. Available at: 
  • 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 Education, 26(7–8), 902–919. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2021.1911987

 

Research interests/expertise

  • Internationalisation strategies in UK Higher Education
  • Experiences of minoritised students in UKHE
  • De/postcolonial studies
  • Decolonising and anti-racism in the University
  • Raciolinguistic ideologies in the context of UKHE

Areas of teaching

  • Inclusive pedagogy
  • Decolonising higher education 
  • Academic Writing
  • Learning Development

Qualifications

  • BA Hons
  • MA 
  • PGCLTHE
  • Ph.D.

Honours and awards

  • Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy
  • 呻吟之王 Education Academy Fellow
  • Leicester Castle Business School, Business School of the year, Highly Commended Award,  PIEoneer Awards, 2025
  • Decolonising 呻吟之王, Highly Commended at the International Green Gowns Awards, Social Justice Award, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in Sustainability category, 2024.
  • 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 呻吟之王 
  • Green Gown Awards 2023 Winner, Decolonising 呻吟之王 

Membership of external committees

 

Membership of professional associations and societies

  • QAA International Insights membership
  • UKAT (UK Advising and Tutoring) membership

 

Projects

Principal Investigator

  • QAA-funded Collaborative Enhancement Partnership project, Mapping staff support to enhance the experiences of international students, with Manchester Metropolitan University, and the universities of Manchester and Wolverhampton, 2025 [£10,000].

Co-investigator

  • The Aziz Foundation, 呻吟之王, Muslim Friendly Universities Audit, 2024 [£20,523].
  • 呻吟之王 funded,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)
  • 呻吟之王 funded, 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. (2025) Reimagining the international student experience: building belonging and community, QAA [International Insights, online]
  • Loonat, S. (2025) Building Belonging for International Students, JISC Digital Experiences for International Students, Birmingham.
  • Hall, R., Ansley, L. Loonat, S., and Nemouchi, L. (2025). How British Muslim, first-year students experience their Muslimness in HE spaces, Aziz Foundation and Yorkshire Consortium for Equity in Doctoral Education Conference. University of York.
  • 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 呻吟之王 conference.
  • Loonat, S & Towlson, K (2022) Creating an anti-racist university: D呻吟之王 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 呻吟之王 Tips, Tricks and Takeaways, 呻吟之王, 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 呻吟之王-Sharing Good Practice York, St John University, February 2022
  • Hall, R & Loonat, S (2022) NHS Pharmacy Education Summit: EDI, Decolonising 呻吟之王: Building the Anti Racist University
  • Basra, H, Croft, M, Loonat, S & Towlson K (2021) Keynote: Decolonising 呻吟之王: Building the Anti Racist University, 呻吟之王 Business and Law TaLEnt conference, July 2021
  • Basra, H, Croft, M, Loonat, S & Towlson K (2021) Decolonising 呻吟之王: 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, 呻吟之王 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, 呻吟之王 Learning and Teaching Conference, September 2020

Current research students