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My current role is Head of Sanctuary at the Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s , which is part of the Global Partnerships Division. I came into this role through a teaching route, starting out by teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) in community settings in 2004, and moving into English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teaching at the Â鶹ÊÓƵ in 2011. 

On moving into EAP teaching, I identified a need for EAP among refugee background students wishing to access university. Since then, I have been taking a lead role in developing and implementing widening participation initiatives for refugee-background students, particularly for those requiring an English language pathway before being able to access university. As well as being involved in the development and implementation of various sanctuary scholarships, I have played a lead role in conducting research into the development of trauma-informed ESOL pedagogy for refugee contexts, sharing this research with practitioners through live workshops and free self-access online training materials and, in conjunction with Deirdre McKenna from the University of Leeds, developing our flagship of free online trauma-informed EAP provision for refugees.

I have also been active across the HE sector, particularly through co-founding and convening the EAP for Social Justice Special Interest Group of BALEAP, and through setting up the RefugEAP Network. The has the aim of promoting social justice focussed awareness, research and practice in the field of EAP, and has been able to do this through running webinars and workshops, publishing blog posts, interviews and podcasts on our website, and providing a forum through which people can network and share good practice. The other initiative, the , aims to facilitate the development of widening participation initiatives enabling refugee-background students to access HE via English language pathways, with a particular focus on English for Academic Purposes. It does this through bringing together practitioners from across the sector to share good practice and take this work forward together. One of the projects of the RN is the , through which we are working to provide practical support to students from Gaza to meet the English language conditions of their UK university offers, as a means of offering solidarity and practical support during the ongoing genocide.

Over the past few years, my research interests have been related to what good practice might entail in terms of creating accessible and trauma-informed ESOL/EAP provision for refugee-background students. As for many involved in social justice work, I am keen on maintaining strong links between research and practice, and have implemented my research findings through offering self-access trauma-informed pedagogy training to ESOL teachers, and co-developing the trauma-informed RefugEAP Programme with Deirdre McKenna from the University of Leeds. 

My most recent research focus is on the need for a shift towards a more critical trauma-informed pedagogical approach in ESOL, as explored in the following article: 

Palanac, A. (2026) Lessons from Gaza: My Journey into Critical Trauma-Informed Pedagogy in English Language Teaching for Refugees. TESOL J. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.70094

Palanac, A. (2026) Lessons from Gaza: My Journey into Critical Trauma-Informed Pedagogy in English Language Teaching for Refugees. TESOL J. Available online: 

McKenna, D. and Palanac, A. (2025) ‘RefugEAP Case Study: Developing and Critically Evaluating a Free, Online Trauma-Informed English for Academic Purposes (EAP) Programme for Refugee-Background Students’, Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2025(1), p. 6. Available online: https://jime.open.ac.uk/articles/10.5334/jime.894 

Palanac, A., Hunt, S., Rogerson-Revell, P., Cajkler, W., & Witthaus, G. (2023). Beyond resilience: Facilitating learning and wellbeing in the refugee language classroom. British Council. Available online: 

Palanac, A. (2022). A shift from handmaidens to enlightened waiters: EAP practitioners for a grassroots Sanctuary movement. In M. Evans, B. Bond & A. Ding (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2019 BALEAP Conference: Innovation, Exploration and Transformation (pp. 207-214). Garnet Education. Available online: 

Palanac, A. (2019). ‘Towards a trauma-informed ELT pedagogy for refugees’. Language Issues, 30(2), pp. 3-14. Available online: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341452361_Towards_a_trauma-informed_ELT_pedagogy_for_refugees 

Palanac, Aleks. (2019) "Renaissance of the Gatekeepers: Establishing a culture of welcome for refugees and asylum seekers at the Â鶹ÊÓƵ’s English Language Teaching Unit" Language Learning in Higher Education, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 117-125. Available online:  or https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334547108_Renaissance_of_the_Gatekeepers_Establishing_a_culture_of_welcome_for_refugees_and_asylum_seekers_at_the_University_of_Leicester's_English_Language_Teaching_Unit

Palanac, A. (2019). Positive Psychology and Mastery of the L2 Academic Self. Journal of Language and Education, 5(2), 86-94. Available online: https://doi.org/ 10.17323/jle.2019.8569 or 
 

My teaching has been focused around English for Speakers of Other Languages. Over the years, I have taught and co-ordinated courses focussing on: general English; academic English, including pre-sessional (pre-university) academic English programmes and in-sessional programmes; medical English programmes; business English; trauma training workshops for teachers of refugee-background students.

Currently, I jointly co-ordinate the RefugEAP Programme and run trauma training workshops for ESOL/EAP teachers of refugee-background students.

Based on my work in the area of trauma-informed ESOL pedagogy for refugees, I have developed a live workshop and a set of free self-access online materials to support practitioners teaching ESOL to refugee-background students in different contexts around the world.

Along with my colleague Deirdre McKenna from the University of Leeds, I have developed the RefugEAP Programme, which is a free online pre-university academic English skills programme for refugee-background students across the UK, based on trauma-informed principles. It is for students who need to improve their academic English skills to help them access a degree programme at university, but perhaps have not been able to access a formal pre-sessional English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programme yet. RefugEAP has been developed to meet this need, providing students with an opportunity to continue to develop their academic English skills in a supportive way while they are waiting for more formal opportunities to become available. This programme is taught by committed volunteer tutors, and is supported by a range of partner organisations, including Screen Share UK and Breaking Barriers. 

I have been a founding member and convenor of two groups - BALEAP's and the . 

In the face the current genocidal war on Gaza, I am keen to use my knowledge and experience in these areas to support students, academics and HEIs in Gaza and Palestine more widely. One of the ways I've been doing this is through running the , which aims to support students from Gaza to meet the English language conditions of their UK university offers. Other initiatives are outlined on our Gaza Support web page. 

University Distinguished Teaching Fellowship (awarded in 2021 for my sanctuary and social justice activities).

Senior Fellowship of Advance HE (2022).

Palanac, A. (2025). 'Lessons from Gaza: The Need for a Critical Trauma-Informed Pedagogy in ELT for Refugees', paper presented at Questioning Normativity – Decoloniality in EAP and Language Education Symposium 2025. University of Leeds campus, 12/12/25

Palanac, A. (2022). ‘Towards a Trauma-Informed ELT Pedagogy for Refugees’, keynote address at NATESOL Annual Conference 2022: TESOL Today: Local, Global, Equal and Open. Online, 14/5/22 (invited speaker)

Palanac, A. (2022). ‘Trauma-Informed ESOL for Refugees’, webinar for NATECLA. Online, 20/1/22 (invited speaker)

Palanac, A. (2019). ‘A Shift from Handmaidens to Enlightened Waiters: EAP Practitioners for a Grassroots Sanctuary Movement’, paper presented at the BALEAP Conference, Leeds, 12/4/19, https://baleap2019.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/BALEAP-Programme.pdf (pp140-141)
 

DELTA (NILE, 2017)

PGCE in Post-Compulsory Education (De Montfort University, 2006) 

MA Oxon (University of Oxford, 2006)

BA in English Language and Literature (University of Oxford, 2001)