Biography
Vanja Zdjelar is a PhD student in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University and a recipient of a Doctoral Canada Graduate Scholarship. Her current work involves understanding misogynist extremism in online spaces. Her research interests also include right-wing extremism, countering violent extremism, terrorism and the internet, and modern left-wing extremist groups. She has a Master of Arts in Criminology from Simon Fraser University. Throughout her time at SFU, she has worked in a number of capacities in Library Services. She has spent close to a decade working in the Student Learning Commons as a Graduate Facilitator for both undergraduate and graduate writing. Working with a diverse range of students Vanja has developed a passion for teaching and learning, particularly with what is a challenging and often emotional task: academic writing. In addition to her work in the Student Learning Commons, Vanja has also worked with the Research Commons as a Qualitative Data Analysis Support Peer for those using NVivo. She has helped numerous individuals across disciplines create and manage their NVivo projects. Vanja is excited to merge her love of research with her passion for learning and teaching in her work at TILT. Teaching has the capacity to change a student’s trajectory; this is something she is keenly aware of having had instructors who engaged her in her studies in ways that prompted her to shift from the hard sciences to the social sciences during her undergraduate degree. She is excited to work with instructors on projects relevant to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, to help them enhance their teaching and their students’ learning experiences. Vanja is also excited to learn from these projects to enhance her own understanding of teaching and learning.