Sylvie Beresford graduated from Besançon University in eastern France with an Honours Degree in English and Comparative Literature. She moved to the UK to teach French for one year in Bangor (Northern Ireland) and subsequently for two years at the Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology, now Anglia Ruskin University. She wrote her Master's thesis on Virginia Woolf's involvement in the Feminist Movement in the early twentieth century. Sylvie was subsequently awarded her MPhil which was focused on Late 18th Century Celtic Studies with an analysis of the novel by Thomas Flanagan "The Year of the French". Her research also involved an interpretation of "Partners in Revolution: The United Irishmen and France" by Marianne Elliott.
Sylvie gained a PGCE (FE) at Cardiff Institute of Higher Education, and then joined the Department of Extra-Mural Studies (now Cardiff Centre for Lifelong Learning) where she taught French at all levels.
Sylvie has contributed to several academic papers e.g., on transport and coastal zone management in the European Union, and she has translated a book commissioned by the Special Air Service (SAS). She has worked as a conference interpreter and translator for a number of organisations, notably the South Wales Police and the Home Office. She has also worked in around 30 companies in France and in the UK as language consultant and adviser and has trained senior examiners at the Patent Office.
In addition, Sylvie has worked as a voice coach for the Welsh College of Music and Drama training opera singers to sing in French as part of their final year Honours Degree assessment.
Prior to taking a full-time post at Cardiff Metropolitan University, Sylvie worked at Coleg Glan Hafren, now Cardiff and the Vale College (CAVC) as Lecturer in French where she was also Languages Team Leader.
In addition, Sylvie taught free-standing modules to undergraduates at Cardiff University for a number of years. These included specialist modules for Engineers, Medical Students, and Business Management and Finance Students at Cardiff Business School.
Sylvie was awarded a Postgraduate Certificate in Applied Social Research in University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC).
Externally, she is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) and an Examiner at both advanced and supplementary levels for the DELF and DALF of the Institut Français (London) and for the Diplôme de Français Professionnel (DFP) B2 and C1 of the Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie (Paris).