Friday 28-06-2019 - 10:44

Your President and Vice-Presidents for 2018-19 end their year in office today.

We asked them share their highlights from the year…

President Rhiannon Llystyn Jones

• Cost of Living I was successful in my proposal to the university to have undergraduate bursaries and scholarships distributed in two equal instalments (Michaelmas and Lent) rather than one lump sum in Lent
• Wellbeing and Mental Health I ran the Wellbeing Wednesday campaign and elements of it will be continued next year. I have also provided self-referral resources for departments for them to give to students that may need support
• Postgraduate students More than doubled the voter turnout of postgraduates in our elections. Also started work with HR to shape policy to move graduate teaching assistants on to centralised fixed term contracts

Vice-President (Union Development) Matty Robinson

• All In This project is our intersectional sports inclusivity initiative which aims to enhance the community feeling of our student groups, reduce barriers to participation and normalise inclusive practices. VP (Activities) Toby and I have launched this project to a number of our sports clubs with a really positive reception
• Policy I’m really happy to have worked on policy this year from sports inclusivity to our new environmental sustainability policy this year, with the aim to make some really positive change to the students’ union over the next few years
• JCRs I’m happy with the support given to our JCRs this year. I’ve worked to ensure that the handover period is better and more consistent; I’ve completed a wellbeing support review of how we support our college officers, with the recommendations being a part of the overall student leader journey at the students’ union

Vice-President (Activities) Toby Wilkinson

• Roses! Final score aside, we delivered a great event again for our students this year. We upped the focus on what we do in Lancaster for away Roses, and sent the teams off geared up and ready with the Roses Rally!
• All In VP (Union Development) Matty and I launched a new sports inclusivity project, which we hope will help increase diversity in our student groups and reduce barriers to participation for all
• Timetabling Lobbied the university to trial live-streaming of teaching, in order to reduce 6-7 lectures, and therefore keep students' evenings free for activity and the bookable spaces available to our groups

Vice-President (Activities) Ian Meeks

• Action against attainment gaps The university has acknowledged and begun analysis of several attainment gaps across campus and will start to determine actions of reduction
• Anonymous marking Hopefully to be introduced for 2020/21, this will reduce bias and help make the university more inclusive
• Student voice is louder than ever Academic Reps are doing more than ever and officers are now partners with the university allowing for change to be implemented efficiently and appropriately

Vice-President (Welfare & Community) Emily Delaney

• Welfare Assembly I have set up an online group for officers to share resources, campaigns and to discuss current issues that our students are facing to come up with solutions. Welfare Officers are also provided with resources directly from me, meaning that they can spend their budgets on campaigns and initiatives. Officers also have pregnancy tests to hand out and assist with for the first time and we are currently working on a referral pathway document for officers to be certain on where they can signpost students depending on their issue
• Laundry I worked with the university commercial services team this year to let them know exactly how we feel! In August, we will be receiving brand new machines in the launderettes across campus and in Chancellors Wharf! Using cards to top-up and use machines will be a choice rather than a need, with smartphone payments becoming available with the new machines. Circuit have also promised to fully clean and service machines quarterly
• Drugs and Alcohol Policy I have worked in collaboration with Student Based Services to develop a Drugs and Alcohol policy that will treat cases of personal use possession of illegal substances with wellbeing support rather than disciplinary measures. This also means that students who approach the SU/university with a substance abuse issue will not be disciplined. We are working to have this policy in action by Michaelmas term 19/20

Vice-President (Campaigns & Communications) Islay Grant

• Bite Club This has been my main project for the year as I aimed to bring students together with cooking and encourage them to see the meal time as a fun social occasion and not a chore. I ran a whole range of events throughout the year - from cooking demonstrations, meal pack giveaways, online content, competitions, seasonal veg giveaways with Green Lancaster, the Food and Well Fest, exam breakfasts and more!
• Social Media Conference I hosted the university's first social media conference earlier in the year in collaboration with the Advertising and Marketing Societies, and held sessions from a range of guest speakers; from how to use Instagram to your advantage, using social media to increase engagement for societies, whether social media is ruining our lives, keeping up with social media, what to do whilst at university to make yourself more employable in a social media role, the future of social media and more
• Collaborations I have worked on a number of other projects with the other officers, such as the Exam Wellbeing campaign created to bring people together during a very busy time of year

We'd like to thank our outgoing officer team for everything they've done this year, and wish them all well for the future!