Hi Postgrads! It’s been nearly five months since I started in my role as Postgraduate Officer at the Guild, and time flies when you’re trying to have fun! I’ve already met a quite a few of you through Welcome, and in your roles as Student Reps, but I’m so excited to carry on meeting such intelligent, committed and fun students, even in the strangest of circumstances. Consider this blog post an introduction to me and what I’ve been doing in the role, and also a chance to get some more information about how both I and the wider Guild can support you during your time at Birmingham.
As an Officer, you find yourself attending lots of meetings with the University, and this is a really important way of ensuring that the student voice is heard and recognised in those (virtual) rooms. However, what’s even more important is ensuring that I can represent students effectively. As I reach the almost halfway point of my term, it is interactions with students that are the most interesting, fulfilling and important parts of my role. So, I have committed to trying to spend as much time as possible talking to students from now on, understanding your perspectives and sharing them where they matter. This may seem relatively obvious, but when almost all of my work is based virtually, it’s much more difficult to gather students together and open conversations – so if you have an idea for how I can support you, or want to feedback on your experiences as a postgrad, please get in touch!
So, what have I been doing?
As Postgraduate Officer, I support both Postgraduate Taught (aka Masters, PGDipEd, LLM etc) students, and Postgraduate Researchers (MRes, PhD, EngD, EdD etc), so many of the meetings and discussions I take part in focus on one of these. For example, I attend both Graduate Taught Board and Graduate Research Board, representing the experiences of PGT and PGR students where relevant. I’m also working on some exciting projects with the University, including a feedback mechanism to support our Student Rep system, and a review of the PhD offer at Birmingham.
At the Guild, I support the Student Voice team and the Education Officer to deliver the Student Rep system, and I’m thrilled that we’ve recruited a record-breaking number of postgrad Reps this year. I can’t wait to meet you all and raise the voice of postgrads, so we can make improvements to your academic experiences. I’ve also been running a regular ‘Brum with a Brew’ virtual events, designed to give postgrads a break from their study or research and relax with their fellow PGs. ‘Brum with a Brew’ happens every Wednesday at 12:00pm, and you can book on the Guild’s website. Hope to see you there!
While I really enjoy my role, there’s no doubt it looks very different to what I was imagining when I ran for election. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everybody in different ways, and I frequently feel the isolation of working and living from home, with few options to socialise or get a change of scene. It is also an incredibly anxious time, and one thing I’ve found is that we all have different levels of anxiety and feelings of insecurity, both about catching the virus ourselves and the potential we have to spread it to others. This can lead to conflict with friends, housemates, course mates and family. Feeling lonely, isolated, anxious or otherwise out of sorts is a totally normal response to living through a pandemic, and we all have difficult days, and we all have better days.
It’s important to remember that the Guild and University can support you in many different ways, through Guild Advice, Community Wardens and Student Mentors, the Wellbeing team in your School, as well as getting your voice heard through the Student Rep system and your Officer team. While changing restrictions mean that what we can offer in person is limited (and subject to change), I would really encourage all postgrads to take time to socialise virtually where possible – as well as Brum with a Brew, we have over 500 student groups to suit all interests, many of whom are running regular virtual events.
If you need anything from me, don’t hesitate to get in touch via email, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. In the meantime, be good to others, and be good to yourself.
Rebecca
xoxo