Dorota Smyk obtained her PhD in English from the University of Zürich in 2009, with a thesis entitled Lexical Innovation on the Internet – Neologisms in Blogs. She also holds an M.A. in English Philology (Specialization: English linguistics and English didactics), a B.A. in English Philology (Specialization: English language, literature and culture) as well as a Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology and a Postgraduate Diploma in Economics.

She has worked as a lecturer, teacher and teacher trainer for over 25 years now. During this time she has developed and taught numerous undergraduate and graduate seminars in English Linguistics and Applied Linguistics at the University of Basel, Berne, Geneva, Lausanne, Zurich and the HEP Zurich. She has worked at the Institute of English Studies since 2004. She is currently responsible for English SEK II studies at the HEP FHNW.

She is passionate about the English language and pedagogy. Her linguistic interests include lexicology, language change, impact of technology and globalisation on communication as well as psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics and pragmatics.