REPORT
CONTENTS 1. FOREWORD 2.
ABOUT THE IMPACT AWARDS
4.
JOINT CATEGORIES
Best Student-Staff Collaboration
Outstanding Student Leader
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PEER LEARNING & SUPPORT CATEGORIES
Best PAL Scheme
Best Peer Support Group
Best New Scheme
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REPRESENTATION CATEGORIES
Outstanding Class Representative
Outstanding Elected Representative
Achieving Significant Change on Campus
10.
GLOBAL CATEGORIES
Best Volunteer in Global Projects
Global Community on Campus
Outstanding Global Citizenship
FOREWORD The Edinburgh University Students’ Association Impact Awards celebrate exceptional student leaders across Representation, Peer Learning & Support and Global. The Awards are now in their 3rd year and are a chance for students and staff from across the University to nominate students and projects in 11 different categories. This year’s nominations have been extremely diverse in nature and have had far-reaching effects on the student experience at Edinburgh. Ranging from challenging the content of the curriculum to supporting new international student transitions, the nominations highlight the contribution of student voice and action in all areas of university life. At the Students’ Association, part of our vision is to ensure that ‘all students should have the power and opportunity to shape their own university experience’. We are hugely proud that students are approaching this challenge with enthusiasm and working to positively impact the University, both for their peers and for future cohorts of students. We hope that staff and students will join us in celebrating student achievements, and will continue to nominate those who have made an impact on our University community.
Alec Edgecliffe-Johnson President 2016-17 Edinburgh University Students’ Association
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ABOUT THE IMPACT AWARDS 120 staff, students and supporters attended the Impact Awards prize-giving ceremony on April 6 2017 to celebrate the achievements of outstanding student leaders. Many of the nominated students have made an impact in multiple activities at the Students’ Association, or have led new projects with support from Students’ Association Funds, such as the Global Fund. Student groups and individuals were nominated across eleven categories, reshaped for 2017 in order to recognise the outstanding achievements of students across a wider range of activities, both in Edinburgh and abroad. Over 400 nominations were received across all categories, a 300% increase in the number of nominations compared to 2016.
% TOTAL NOMINATIONS BY CATEGORY:
Outstanding Student Leader | 20%
JO
%
REPRE SEN TA TIO N
9% T2 IN
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Best Student-Staff Collaboration | 9%
Best Volunteer in Global Projects | 3% Global Community on Campus | 9% Outstanding Global Citizenship | 6% Best New Scheme | 1% Best PAL Scheme | 13%
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AR
A
L
ER
LE
18
PE
%
Best Peer Support Group | 5%
NI
NG
&S
OB GL
UPPO
RT 1 9 %
Achieveing Significant Change on Campus | 5% Outstanding Class Representative | 19% Outstanding Elected Representative | 10%
% NOMINATIONS FROM STUDENTS OR STAFF:
100 80 60 40 20 0
Joint
From Students
Global
Peer Learning & Support
Representation
From Sta
The Impact Awards 2017 were supported by Teach First. This is the first time we have had a sponsor for the awards, which enables us to continue celebrating outstanding students. Teach First are the ideal candidate for this partnership as they have a long standing relationship with Edinburgh University Students’ Association.
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JOINT CATEGORIES Two categories at the Impact Awards are open to any student taking part in our projects. The Outstanding Student Leader award received the highest number of nominations in 2017, with 80 nominations for students across all three Colleges at the University. Meanwhile, the standard of nominations for the Best Student-Staff Collaboration category was so high that the judging panel deemed it necessary to shortlist and recognise three groups.
BEST STUDENT-STAFF COLLABORATION WINNER: Dr Isla Myers-Smith & the Coding Club Team RUNNER UP: Dorcas Amoh-Mensah, Kushmandi Sreekissoon, Munini Musembi, Delilah Owiti (Mastercard Scholars) and Paul McLaughlin (University Catering) RUNNER UP: PIR Student News
“ Paul and the Catering Team also deserve special mention for being so open to student input, providing all ingredients for the dishes and offering (free of charge) cooking lessons for other MasterCard Foundation scholars less confident in the kitchen.” [Mastercard Scholars and University Catering] “ D r Myers-Smith brought together an enthusiastic and diverse team of undergraduate students, postgraduate students, recent alumni and staff to create a positive learning environment in which we can all be teachers and learners. It is not every day that students describe statistics workshops as 'life-changing'.” [Dr Isla Myers-Smith & the Coding Club Team]
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OUTSTANDING STUDENT LEADER WINNER: Baber Rasheed RUNNER UP: Rob Yates and Jessica Xie
“ Meeting Baber has influenced and equipped me with knowledge on how to handle university and in particular my degree. Without Baber's support I would not be in the advantageous position of feeling I have gotten to grips with university and preparing for life after graduating.” [Baber Rasheed] “ In a programme of over 150 students, Baber has always stood out as a proactive leader who is tirelessly working towards not only facilitating the teaching process, but also maintaining a positive community spirit among students on the programme.” [Baber Rasheed] “ They are true examples of what we would like to see of all of our students: individuals prepared to challenge themselves and who, in doing so, have a positive influence on the world around them.” [Rob Yates and Jessica Xie]
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PEER LEARNING & SUPPORT CATEGORIES Peer Learning and Support is all about providing reassurance, community and camaraderie, and this is what our schemes provide. Over the last year, our schemes have continued to grow and flourish. We’ve had nearly 10,000 instances of Peer Learning and Support taking place across the University this year alone, equating to around 90 hours of provision a week provided by nearly 500 fully trained Student Leaders. We’ve found our volunteers really value this development and this was reflected in our recent International Study on Peer Leadership which found 95% of Student Leaders felt that they now possess the employability skills required of a graduate as a result of their Peer Leader experiences.
BEST PAL SCHEME WINNER: EconPALS RUNNER UP: PIR PALS
“ They have had a very positive impact on many first-year students by providing academic support, a friendly discussion environment and space to meet people. Feedback continuously shows that they are meeting students’ needs.” [PIR PALS] “ It's great to see a scheme where students are challenging themselves and able to reap the rewards with high attendance. The PALS group have even begun to plan hosting sessions ‘on tour’, e.g. attending an Economics Conference with their students. Another amazing way that EconPALS are thinking differently about learning and engaging their students and student leaders!” [EconPALS]
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BEST PEER SUPPORT GROUP WINNER: Biomedical Sciences Academic Families RUNNER UP: Chinese Studies Peer Support Group
“ This is a great scheme which is very well organised, well run and ensures constant support for first year students. The fact that so many of them come to the sessions which are not compulsory shows their dedication to the programme.” [Biomedical Sciences Academic Families] “ Although their other social events have not been as well attended, the leaders have remained positive and proactive, and are embarking on an evaluation process to find out how their future events could be more successful and helpful for Chinese Studies students. They deserve to be acknowledged for their hard work and enthusiasm.” [Chinese Studies]
BEST NEW SCHEME WINNER: PPALS (Social Policy PALS) RUNNER UP: SocPALS (Sociology PALS)
“ PPALS is the first Peer Learning and Support scheme made available for Social Policy students. A team of seven Social Policy students have displayed great enthusiasm and have worked very hard over the past couple of months to get this scheme up and running. From the get-go, they made every effort to plan constructive PALS sessions every week: drawing on their own learning experiences from previous years, planning interactive activities and making sure they were basing them on the content of this year’s course handbook.” [PPALS] “ It has been beyond useful for first year Sociology students, and had an immeasurable positive impact on them. It has been an absolute delight working with the Sociology Peer Leaders and developing innovative strategies to find better ways to help students transition into higher education.” [Soc-PALS]
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REPRESENTATION CATEGORIES This year, there are over 1800 students undertaking a role as a Class Representative, representing their class, programme or year group. The Students’ Association also supports a number of elected representatives, including School Reps and Liberation and Section Group Convenors. Student representation is an integral part of improving the university experience for all students, and all of the student reps celebrated at the Impact Awards 2017 have undoubtedly made a real and exciting difference at the University of Edinburgh for the cohorts they represent.
OUTSTANDING CLASS REPRESENTATIVE WINNER: Hanna Marie Thiele School of Law RUNNER UP: Erk Gunce School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
“ She is always ready to help, proactively seeks feedback and constantly tries to improve students' experience” [Hanna Marie Thiele] “ Erk has consistently gone above and beyond in his role as a Class Rep in the Department of European Languages and Cultures. Erk is visible to the students he represents, he has advised an Undergraduate Teaching Review, he helped to improve the year abroad experience of his peers […]. In sum, Erk is an exemplary Class Rep who has delivered positive changes to his peers.” [Erk Gunce]
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OUTSTANDING ELECTED REPRESENTATIVE WINNER: Liberation Group Convenors 2016/17 (Esme Allman, Chris Belous, Leah Morgan, Kai O’Doherty and Corné Rijneveld) RUNNER UP: Carlos da Costa Filho GeoSciences Postgraduate Vice Convenor
“ From Esme’s creative Black History Month programme which kicked off the year in style, to Leah’s principled engagement in the University’s Review of support for disabled students, from Kai’s work to raise the profile of trans students on campus to Chris’ Unapologetically Me campaign empowering women and non-binary folk, and Corné’s work on the rights of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, this year’s Liberation Group Convenors have been an asset to the Students’ Association and the students they represent. Their work has been consistently inspirational, intersectional, and influential” [Liberation Group Convenors 2016/17] “ It's unusual for PhD students to be taking on so much work to represent students when they have so many other concerns in their professional life, but Carlos has committed to offering his time on a voluntary basis to the students within the Geosciences School.” [Carlos da Costa Filho]
ACHIEVING SIGNIFICANT CHANGE ON CAMPUS WINNER: LiberatEd (Esme Allman, Jessica Brough, Diva Mukherji, Lindsey Nkem, Toby Sharpe, Rianna Walcott) RUNNER UP: The Grey People
“ The LiberatEd team have taken time out to get students engaged, demonstrating that students should be given the opportunity to critique their curriculum and encouraging others to consider how liberation can be embedded within the material they learn and are taught from. They have started an institutional conversation which now demands that staff listen to students about the liberation of the curriculum.” [LiberatEd] “ The Grey People are a group of students at the ECA who are working together to start a student-led initiative to celebrate interdisciplinary art practice at the University. The environment they hope to create will both be a place for gaining new skills and showcasing those the student body already have.” [The Grey People]
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GLOBAL CATEGORIES Edinburgh University Students' Association strives to enhance the global experience for students at the University of Edinburgh. With students from almost 180 countries, speaking 70 languages, there is a wealth of skills and cultural knowledge in our vibrant global community. We are committed to “support and celebrate strong and vibrant communities within and beyond Edinburgh” in line with the University of Edinburgh Global Engagement Plan 2017-2020. The Impact Awards 2017 enabled us to recognise and reward not only students volunteering in our own Tandem Language Exchange and Global Buddies programmes, but all students working to develop the global community and promote the ethos of Global Citizenship at Edinburgh.
BEST VOLUNTEER IN GLOBAL PROJECTS WINNER: Buddies Committee 2016/17 (Laura Clements, Anya Jarmson, Alexandra Nemetschke, Hannah Shearer, Ewin Teo, Rose Woolhouse) RUNNER UP: Pepe Cabezas Tandem Volunteers Coordinator 2016/17
“ This year's Buddies Committee has done a phenomenal job in preparing for, supporting and executing the 2016-2017 Global Buddies Program. They have each spent countless hours and valuable energy and effort into making hundreds of international students' first experiences in Edinburgh fantastic.” [Buddies Committee 2016/17] “ His outgoing and extrovert personality has allowed him to steadily build a great relationship with the volunteers, both in terms of face-to-face interaction and communication through social media. He has thus contributed to the efficient running of many events held this year, both regular and themed events. It is on a weekly basis that this contribution is seen, as volunteers keep returning to Tandem, and new people constantly show up.” [Pepe Cabezas]
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GLOBAL COMMUNITY ON CAMPUS WINNER: International Student Centre (Stephanie Bouwhuis, Thomas Dalhuisen, Bryn Evans, Lindsey Nkem, Alba Priewe, Ishana Sanan, Liga Skarda, Rebecca Spross) RUNNER UP: Anthony Salamone
“ The International Student Centre, unfailingly, has managed to create and recreate every year a community of dedicated, open-minded students. For the past 25+ years, it has provided the space and the means for students to engage with each other, attracting every semester new volunteers who are willing to give up significant part of their limited time in Edinburgh because of the value they see in the ISC. For this very reason, it is impossible to nominate a single student for this category, for the ISC is made of all the volunteers and leaders that over the years have created this invaluable community on campus for all identities.” [International Student Centre] “ I can think of no better example of a student who has made such a significant contribution to developing the global community at the University of Edinburgh.” [Anthony Salamone]
OUTSTANDING GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP WINNER: James Konrad Puchowski RUNNER UP: "Working with Refugees in Bad Kreuznach" Team (Nick Heaney, Rachel Lonie, Helen Mcdiarmid, Anna Phelps, Julia Pisarek, Ellen Smith)
“ All students benefit from spending time abroad, but we have never seen a student work more proactively and productively than James did to really get the most out of his time abroad.” [James Konrad] “ The feedback about this work was overwhelming — pupils responded extremely positively as migration is a topic they study at Higher level and they were motivated to see the use of languages in a meaningful and relevant context. I have been deeply impressed by the sustained commitment and social engagement of the students and cannot recommend them highly enough.” [Working with Refugees in Bad Kreuznach]
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Edinburgh University Students’ Association is a charity (SC015800) and a company limited by guarantee (SC429897) registered in Scotland. Registered Office: Potterrow, 5/2 Bristo Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9AL