Project Team & Tutors

The Peer-EDU project team brings together academic teachers and specialists from the University of Gdańsk, the University of Malta, and the University of Split.

They will serve as experts and tutors, responsible for designing and delivering the training programme, guiding student peer-tutors, and supporting the development of peer-tutoring practices at the partner universities.

Their key tasks include:

• preparing and conducting peer-tutor and peer-tutor trainer workshops,
• supervising and supporting students during the pilot peer-tutoring phase,
• monitoring progress and collecting feedback,
• promoting best practices and sharing expertise across institutions,
• supporting students in presenting their outcomes at the final international conference.

Ewa Szymczak holds a PhD in Earth Sciences (Oceanology) from the University of Gdańsk, where she is a university professor in the Department of Chemical Oceanography and Marine Geology at the Faculty of Oceanography and Geography. She previously served as Vice-Dean for Education (2012–2023) and the Director of the Center for the Development of Teaching and Tutoring (2021-2024). Currently (2024–2028), she is Vice-Rector of Education.

Her research focuses on fluvial transport, marine sedimentation processes, and the role of suspended river sediments. She is a co-author of academic publications on oceanology and university didactics.

She introduced tutoring at the University of Gdańsk in 2014/2015 and is the founder and editor of Tutoring Gedanensis. She has completed advanced training in academic leadership and didactics, including programs with the University of Groningen and Kozminski University. She has carried out various projects related to higher education.

Dorota Jendza holds a PhD in Social Sciences in the field of Management and Quality Studies and a Master’s degree in Psychology. She is a faculty member in Department of Organisational Behaviour at the Faculty of Management.

With over 15 years of management experience as a manager and a consultant for quality management systems, she now focuses on teaching, research, and organizational consulting. Her work integrates cultural, organizational, and psychological perspectives, with a particular interest in how individuals perceive and interpret organizational realities. She studies psychological and organizational factors influencing human behavior, teamwork, relationships, and readiness for change.

She is a certified academic tutor, specializing in personal development, communication, and stress management. She conducts academic courses, workshops, and training sessions on

organizational improvement, communication processes, team building, leadership, conflict resolution, and stress management. Additionally, she mentors managerial staff and employees in public and private organizations during quality management implementations and organizational change processes.

Jarosław Jendza holds a PhD in Social Sciences (Pedagogy) and is a researcher and lecturer at the Institute of Pedagogy, expert in Center for the Development of Teaching and Tutoring. With over 20 years of teaching experience across different age groups, he specializes in non-traditional education, including innovative and alternative early education and higher education issues. He conducts courses on alternative education, innovative didactics, and the challenges of higher education.

He has extensive training experience in developing didactic, interpersonal, communication, and managerial skills within the education sector. As an external educational consultant, he also supports teaching staff in implementing educational change.

An expert in Maria Montessori pedagogy he is a board member of Montessori Europe and leads the international Montessori Research Group. He is also a member of several academic associations, including the Polish Pedagogical Society, Philosophy and Theory in Higher Education Society, and The Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain.

Grzegorz Grzegorczyk is a doctor of humanities in the field of Linguistics. Since 1997 he has been teaching students in linguistics subjects. Since 2013 he has been guiding students, academics and business people as a tutor, coach and supervisor. She focuses on individual support focused on the needs reported by students and clients.

Since 2011, she has been training groups as a coach in business and education in the areas of tutoring and coaching skills in management and education (various levels), effective use of communication strategies, self-presentation, persuasion and persuasion tools, interviewing techniques, public speaking. She is a certified coach (post-graduate studies Academy of Coaching) and accredited academic tutor, supervisor of academic tutors. Active trainer of interpersonal skills, solution-focused therapy consultant, certified psychologist.

Wojciech Glac is a PhD in biological sciences and is an academic teacher with 20 years of experience. She works in the Neurobiology Laboratory of the Department of Animal and Human Physiology at the University of Gdansk. He conducts classes with students of various majors in the form of lectures and exercises, as well as lectures and workshops popularizing knowledge about the brain for children, adolescents and adults. He is the originator and organizer of the Brain Days at the University of Gdansk, which for more than 10 years have attracted several thousand people interested in brain issues. He participates in projects improving the quality of didactics and conducts training in the use of knowledge from the field of neuroscience in education and business, innovative and active teaching methods, including gamification, game-based learning (Game-Based Learning), learning-by-doing, problem-solving (Problem-Based Learning), project-based learning (Project-Based Learning) or scientific inquiry (Inquiry-Based Education).

He is a laureate of the Mrongowiusz Award for the best teachers at the University of Gdansk and the Populizer of Science award in the competition of the Science in Poland PAP service and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

His scientific interests include neuroscience in the broadest sense and its connections with other scientific fields, such as psychology, criminology and pedagogy, his research work is focused on the problem of addiction, including mechanisms and inter-personal variability of the effects of psychoactive substances on the body.

He is a tutor who assists students who wish to develop their scientific interests interdisciplinarily, combining field knowledge with neuroscience knowledge. He provides assistance in improving science popularization skills, seeking motivation and tools to foster effective learning.

Nikica Mihaljević, PhD, is full professor at the Department of Italian Language and Literature at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Split, Croatia. She teaches several courses at the undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels. Seh is the Head of the Department of Italian Literature, Deputy Head of the Department of Italian Language and Literature, Head of the postgraduate doctoral module Literature and Culture and Editor-in-Chief of the scholarly international journal Zbornik radova Filozofskog fakulteta u Splitu. She is the author of eight books, four monographs and four editorial monographs, and of over fifty scientific and professional papers. She has participated in more than sixty international conferences, in Croatia and abroad. She also teaches some courses in italian literature at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina). She has given invited lectures on several occasions at different universities in various countries (Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Slovenia, France, etc.) and was visiting professor in 2017/2018 of the University of Macerata (Italy). She has been awarded by a special award from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Split for the outstanding contribution in the field of publishing and international relations.

Antonela Antonela Marić PhD, is associate professor, She is a faculty member in Department of Italian Language and Literature. She is head of PhD Studies Program of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Split and has large experience as ex Vice Dean for Science and International Relations. She has helped in implementing various international projects, and has participated in international conferences and several international research projects herself.

She has served as a liaison officer with foreign universities in creating two graduation study programs.

Michelle Attard Tonna is an academic member of staff and Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Education, University of Malta, coordinating school-based mentoring on a national level. This role oversees the mentoring of student-teachers during their field placement and whereby teachers based in schools are trained to be mentors. She is also Deputy Dean of the Faculty and Head of Department of Leadership for Learning and Innovation. She has completed a PhD with the University of Aberdeen, UK.

Before joining the Faculty of Education, Michelle has been engaged by the Ministry for Education and Employment as Head of Project in the Learning Outcomes Framework, which saw the coordination of a national project on the introduction of learning outcomes in the curriculum. She has also represented the Ministry in a number of working groups and fora, both on a local level and internationally. Her primary research interests include the professional development of teachers and comparative studies of the way teachers learn. She has contributed to various European-wide studies in the area of teacher learning and also participated in various conferences and European networks in which she has presented her research. She has published her work in a number of educational journals and books, mostly focusing on teachers, their perceptions, their professional growth and their role as leaders in schools. Her current research interests focus on teacher mentoring, lesson study and teacher professional growth.

Charmaine Bonello is a Resident Academic Lecturer specialising in Early Childhood and Primary education at the University of Malta. With a career spanning back to 1997, she has devoted herself to both working in and academically exploring the realms of early and primary education. She earned her doctoral and master’s degrees in early childhood education from the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. Her academic journey has been marked by a deep passion for understanding and improving Early Childhood Education and Care. Her current research interests cover critical areas such as Early Literacy, Children’s Rights, Postcolonial approaches to education, Quality Interactions in the early years, and the Emergent Curriculum. Shecollaborates with fellow academics to advance knowledge and drive positive change in the realms of early, primary and higher education. Her book, „Boys, Early Literacy, and Children’s Rights in a Postcolonial Context,” published by Routledge in 2022, offers deep insights into the intersection of early literacy, children’s rights, and postcolonial contexts. She has been appointed as co-editor of the international refereed journal „Postcolonial Directions in Education” and as a member of the Board of Administrators of the Malta Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society, where she actively contributes to initiatives promoting the overall welfare of society, with a focus on the early years and children’s rights. She co-founded and holds the position of Vice President at the voluntary association Early Childhood Development Association of Malta (ECDAM), demonstrating her commitment to fostering collaboration and best practices within the local early childhood education community.

Isabel Murillo Wilstermann, M.A., is member of the Department of Teaching Development since 2020, as well as Spanish lecturer in the bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the Kiel University. In addition to her extensive teaching experience, She has conceived and developed a teacher preparation project granted by PerLe-Fonds (Projekt erfolgreiches Lehren und Lernen) for innovative teaching at the University of Kiel. Moreover, she has co-initiated the Erasmus+ project ProPIC in cooperation with Karlsruhe University of Education, Newcastle University, University of Barcelona, and University of Borås. During this project she coordinated ProPIC at a local level and co-developed the study program to be implemented at Kiel University. As a member of the Department of Teaching Development, she collaborates in the development and implementation of the BEAT-Be a Tutor programme which aims at providing qualification opportunities for students with teaching duties. She initiated and co-organized together with the SEA-EU Department at Kiel University the event BEAT-SEA-EU Staff-Week with the objective of building synergies with SEA-EU partners and co-develop training modalities that address challenges faced by course assistants.

Rick Huizinga is an Educational Specialist and Trainer at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, where he develop and deliver educational programs for academic staff. Since 2019, he has been co-coordinating the University Teaching Qualification program and leading the ‘Masters of Didactics’ program in collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education in Poland. He also provides expertise on Active Learning, Inclusive Education, and Continuous Professional Development.

Previously, he worked as the Coordinator for International Student Life and an Intercultural Educator at Emory University in Atlanta, where he led initiatives supporting international students and promoting intercultural competence. With a background in secondary education and history, he has also held teaching and leadership roles at several institutions.

He holds a Research Master’s in Educational Leadership from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, and a BA in Secondary Education and History from Calvin University in the United States.

Anna Osińska is an Administrative specialist whose professional experience is mainly related to education and training activities. After completing her master’s degree in pedagogy at the Faculty of Pedagogy and Artistic Education at UWM, she worked for more than 15 years in a training company dealing not only with the implementation but also with the writing of training projects financed from EU funds. She is the co-author of several projects and the author of 4 projects that received funding in the open competition procedure with a total value of more than 8 million PLN. She performed many functions, including: training expert, monitoring and evaluation expert, administrative manager of the project office and project coordinator – dealing with the organization of training courses, workshops, monitoring and evaluation (including the creation of monitoring tools), creation of training programs, budget management control, management of staff (several people), coordination of all project activities. She constantly supplemented her practical experience with theoretical knowledge not only during short training forms, but mainly during postgraduate studies in: Human Resource Management (Master of Business Administration Human Resource Management MBA ZZL), Economic Efficiency of Enterprises, Accounting and Controlling, Personal Data Protection. She also completed a second bachelor’s degree in Administration at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warmia and Mazury.

In addition to her work related to project management, she has also been engaged in teaching activities, conducting classes with students in pedagogical research methodology and social pathology, and “scientific” as a hobby, taking part in 2 international conferences presenting – during poster sessions – research on the evaluation of the implementation of RODO regulations/security of personal data processing in business.

Since 2021 she has been associated with the Center for Didactic Improvement and Tutoring of the University of Gdansk (CDDIT UG) dealing, among other things, with the planning of processes relating to the training activities of the Center, the organization and operation of training courses, workshops, conferences, participation in the development and implementation of projects under the aegis of CDDIT, financial management, materials management and budgets of projects implemented by the Center.

Ilona Kamińska holds a PhD in the discipline of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and after completing her master’s degree in Chemistry at the University of Gdansk, she joined the Faculty of Oceanography and Geography first as a doctoral student and then as a project coordinator. She has taught students on the ecological and socioeconomic value of marine ecosystems, economic valuation of the environment, ecosystem services, social-ecological systems issues and project management. She based her work with students mainly on activation methods such as project method, case study, role-playing, debates and PBL problem method.

At the same time, she co-authored, managed and implemented a number of development projects aimed at students and academics, the main purpose of which was to improve the quality of education by, among other things, implementing new teaching methods, modifying study programs, internship programs for students and training programs for academic staff.

After obtaining a Ph.D. in Natural Sciences in the discipline of Earth and Environmental Sciences, she did not continue her scientific work. She focused on obtaining funds for innovative educational and development projects aimed at students and educational and scientific staff.

Since 2024, I have been using my several years of experience in both project management and monitoring the correctness of project implementation for the benefit of the University of Gdansk Center for the Development of Teaching and Tutoring