The state of
THE UNION Annual Report 2010
Welcome
to the Students’ Union Annual Report 2010!
www.su.nottingham.ac.uk
So what’s the point of a Students’ Union, anyway? What do we do? What have we ever done for you? Every student - that is, every member - should ask this of their Union, and ask it regularly. In this report, we hope to give you a genuine idea of the impact that we’re having on the lives of thousands of our members. Whether you’ve helped run a society, come in for a spot of advice from our Student Advice and Representation Centre, or even if you’ve bought a sandwich in one of our shops, you’ve come into contact in some way with the work that we do as your Students’ Union. But behind all of this, there’s a huge amount going on that you might not always know about.
We’re incredibly proud of our achievements as a Union in the last year. In the following pages, we hope you’ll be able to get a real glimpse of some of the many things that we do to make your time at Nottingham the best that it can be. Over the next twelve months, we aim to make it even better. So look out for us, and make sure you let us know what you think!
Will Vickers President
SU Big Review 2010 The SU Big Review was a unique opportunity for students to have their say about how the Union is run, and to shape its future! A huge part of this was a survey, which was completed by over 3000 students, with all demographics represented. The result was plenty of useful feedback on how the Union is viewed and what can be done to improve the student experience: •
The most popular ways that you’d like the Students’ Union to help you, are through a balance of providing support into work, making university life more fun and improving your prospects of academic success. 71% of you know about the Students’ Union; however there are significantly lower levels of awareness amongst Non-EU Internationals (53%), Mature students (58%) and Non-White students (61%).
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51% say the main limitation to use of the Union is time, followed by lack of information (38%) and money (36%).
Email is the preferred means of union communication followed by the university portal. Facebook is also popular but less so amongst parttime students in particular.
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80% of members feel the Students’ Union is having a positive impact on their time at University. This is good but obviously we would like this to be higher! It will be a key part of our strategy to recognise the impact we are having.
This survey was one of two major surveys which took place this year, with the aim of gauging student opinion on their university experience. We have taken this information forward to use in refining our core values and purpose, and developing a new strategic plan.
SU Big Review
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THE S.U. BIG REVIEW
Representation Digital screens were installed into all Halls during the summer; these will be used to improve communication between JCRS and the Students’ Union.
www.su.nottingham.ac.uk
This year, Union Council and Candidate Question Times were broadcast over the internet, making the Students’Union accessible to the student body as a whole, including those who were too far away (in Boston or Mansfield for example) or too busy to attend.
The Students With Caring Responsibilities Group was established specifically to support students juggling the demands of being parents and carers, providing guidance and offering plenty of opportunities to socialise with those in the same situation. The Postgraduate Students’ Association had a highly productive year, with its most successful Week One to date and a huge variety of events, including Big Days Out across the country. The first PGSA at our China and Malaysia Campuses were also established.
0 Over 7,00 d in vote students Exec the 2010 aking ,m Elections record r e it anoth year! breaking General Election 2010 May 2010 saw the General Election take place, as well as an exciting time for British politics. The Students’ Union was there to make sure students realised the importance of casting their vote, on both a local and national level, not least because the student population holds a massive 12% of the UK vote! The Students’ Union Exec were out and about encouraging students to register to vote (Cadbury’s Creme eggs were used as a tasty extra incentive!) and to actually use their vote on 6th May. Along with the Politics Society they also held a debate for all the prospective parliamentary candidates standing for Nottingham South; issues from the NHS to student funding were discussed. University tuition fees and graduate unemployment were big issues in the election, and the Students’ Union was there to represent your voice to the people that matter. In the run up to the election the Students’ Union campaigned for fairer top-up fees through the Debtonate Campaign. 2009-10 President, Rob Greenhalgh, presented a petition with over 1,400 signatures, opposing any increase in tuition fees, to Lord Mandelson during a visit to the University of Nottingham.
Course Reps In 2009 we trained 198 Course Reps – up from 110 in 2008. To make things easier, continuing Reps got to complete refresher training hosted through WebCT, with a further 78 Reps taking up this opportunity. The on-line skills sessions have also proved popular. The elected Faculty Co-ordinators worked extremely hard on various projects throughout 2009/10, in conjunction with the Education Officer. Whilst students may have been enjoying the snow, Faculty Co-ordinators were on hand to co-ordinate information after snow hampered the January exam period, and they also assisted Reps with lecture shout-outs to encourage final year students to complete the National Student Survey.
In Autumn 2009, the University agreed to introduce a 28 day turnaround time for marking and feedback on assessments. The Education Officer worked with Course Reps across the University to make this happen. The Education Officer worked with students from various schools across the University to address the accuracy of pre-arrival information. In most cases this was resolved to the students’ satisfaction and re-enforces the importance of the Education Network.
Following the Quality Assurance Agency audit, it was felt that information such as external examiner reports should be more freely available to students. As a result the Students’ Union ran a competition to re-name Student Staff Feedback Committees as learning community forums and the Education Officer worked with the University to develop an on-line resource which will be rolled out in 2011. News of the Education Network Accreditation Scheme filtered down through the Schools, and we were pleased to award 220 certificates, some of which were awarded at the Education Network AGM.
mpaignms, Library sCua a mmer ex
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Representation
Education
Postgraduate Councils will be introduced in 2010/11 to build on the already strong PG Rep System. 2009 saw the elections for the first Postgraduate Faculty Co-ordinators.
National Student Survey (NSS)
www.su.nottingham.ac.uk
The NSS polls all final year students at UK universities on their student experience, and in 2010 the University of Nottingham jumped 12 places in the NSS rankings — from 42nd to 30th, with an overall satisfaction score of 87%. This rise reflects continued efforts to respond to feedback from previous surveys, and the Students’ Union worked with colleagues across the University to increase awareness of the NSS and the importance of students getting their voice heard.
The trends gathered from the survey go on to help form Exec Officers’ priorities for the year, as well as allowing us to make plenty of positive changes in the year ahead. Feedback from the Survey resulted in 500 extra plug sockets being provided across five Libraries. They have also tweaked the wireless coverage in the Hallward Library and the number of laptops available for loan in the libraries has increased by 40% to 140.
SUEI Award
We were awarded a Bronze Students’ Union Evaluation Initiative (SUEI) award this year, the culmination of a number of years’ work. Working in partnership with the NUS, this accreditation demonstrates the mark of a good Students’ Union, ensuring we are making a positive difference to the lives of students, and continually improving the opportunities available to them. Next time we’ll be aiming for Silver!
Intersites In September 2009, The Department of Health (DoH) released a consultation document on the future of the NHS Bursary scheme for healthcare students in England. Using an on-line survey we gathered the views of over 780 students across our nine healthcare teaching sites in Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Derbyshire. We then submitted a report to the DoH on behalf of our members to ensure that our nursing, midwifery, physiotherapy and medical students had a voice and could actively contribute to the consultation process on this vital aspect of student funding. At the time of publishing this report, we continue to wait for the outcome of this review to be announced by the government. Following the submission of a plan from a student nurse to improve the common room at our Lincoln Centre, the Students’ Union has worked closely with the University to successfully secure over £5000 of funding from the central university, which will now allow this project to go ahead.
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The Student Advice team had the busiest ever year in terms of numbers in 2009/10 - with 10,123 enquiries received. The main areas of work for the Welfare Advisers related to housing deposits and housing contract issues. The main areas of work for the Education Advisers related to academic appeals and academic offences.
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One of the Welfare Advisers has carried out accreditation inspections for UNIPOL, helping to develop SARC’s knowledge of local student housing conditions. A member of SARC staff continued to sit on the UNIPOL Nottingham sub-committee.
We ran the House Campaign in partnership with UNIPOL to support students moving out of Halls and into the private rented sector. We ran a pilot Community Warden Scheme with eight Student Wardens covering an area of Lenton with 814 student houses. The Scheme focussed on accommodation and community issues such as waste management and good neighbour campaigns. The response was positive and long-term residents appreciated that students were trying to make an effort in the community.
Representation
The Nursing & Midwifery Association (NAMA) Committee at Boston Centre has gone from strength to strength this year, selling hoodies, holding social events, providing sporting activities for Boston and Grantham students and fundraising for The Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Air Ambulance. For the first time members at these centres have gained a real taste of the full student experience and become more engaged with the Students’ Union.
student advice & representation centre
You said, we did!
You wanted more non-alcoholic events during Freshers’ Week; we made sure that the events in Refreshers’ Week focussed on trialling activities and showcasing student talent, and plan to do more.
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The student voice does make a real difference; here are just some of the ways we’ve been listening... •
You wanted better baby changing facilities on campus; we’ve secured space for this in the Portland Building.
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You said there should be more sport in the Varsity series; American Football has been added for 2010.
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You said there’s no briefing or de-briefing for Business students taking part in the Study Abroad programme; we liaised with the Business School and there’s now a designated member of staff responsible for this.
www.su.nottingham.ac.uk
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You said you wanted hot breakfasts in Halls during exams; we got the Catering department to reinstall these during the exam periods to give you to give you the food you need when you’re busy revising.
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You said the Treasury should be easier to use; we’ve produced handbooks and guides for student groups and moved much of the treasury online.
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You said you needed more help with finding sponsorship for AU clubs; we provided all AU club Presidents with sponsorship proposal kits.
Sutton Bonington
Sutton Bonington campus is over 10 miles away from University Park but we’ve done a lot this year to make sure students based here feel more within the Union than ever before: •
The changes to the Hopper Bus service are significant; not only are the buses more frequent but they now stop at the local rail station and in Kegworth (twice daily).
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The first ever blood donation sessions happened on campus.
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Sutton Bonington Ents was established to organise social events for the whole campus.
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SB TEC merged with University Park TEC to broaden the SRS.
Opportunities BizSoc won the Nestlé National Champions Award this year; it is open to societies all over the UK! Societies have been gaining recognition on a national stage, with Musicality, the Students’ Union musical theatre group, appearing on the Channel 5 programme “Don’t Stop Believing.” Dance Society won NUS Club or Society of the Year; they had a year packed with successes in terms of the number of participants, raising revenue, building links with the local community and winning dance competitions.
18 new societies were affiliated to the Students’ Union:
People and Planet Society was involved in an international campaign to stop RBS investing in socially and economically destructive practices in Canada, creating public awareness on campus and nationally. As well as celebrating their 30th birthday this year, URN, the Students’ Union radio station, also scooped seven gongs at the Student Radio Awards 2009: • • • • • • •
Best Male Presenter (Gold) Best Specialist Music Programming (Gold) Best Specialist Music Programming (Silver) Best Marketing and Branding (Silver) Best Interview (Bronze) Best Live Event or Outside Broadcast (Bronze) Best Student Radio Station (Bronze)
Opportunities
• Nat Sci • Cake Society • Jainism • Slovak and Czech • Iranian • DJ Soc • Man Soc • Bangladesh • MahJong • Social Sport • Iraqi • Article 25 • Stop the Traffik • Nigerian • DubStep • Kettle • MBC • Quidditch and Harry Potter
Magic Soc indeed had a magical year of success, doubling their membership, achieving the SU Best Event award by hosting a Gala Show, increasing the number of socials and performances and attracting a record number to their annual Blackpool Convention. All of this resulted in them winning their first ever Gold Award.
New Theatre celebrated 40 years of being the only student run theatre in the country. They marked the occasion by inviting University staff, alumni and Students’ Union staff to a matinee performance followed by a reception at the University Club.
www.su.nottingham.ac.uk
Karnival continue to raise money for charity through various means, including cycling from London to Paris and climbing to Everest Base Camp. This year they raised a staggering £1,225,454 for good causes.
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As well as being active members of the Students’ Union, these talented sportspeople have represented their country: Jess Sylvester Swimming European and Commonwealth Games Silver Medallist Nick Catlin Hockey GB Seniors
Our annual Varsity series against Nottingham Trent University raised £14,627 for the charity CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young), which will be used to put on screening sessions for student athletes to detect heart problems.
Joanne Arnold Hockey England & U21
We maintained our 7th place in the BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sports) championships in 2010, out of 142 universities. We remain the only university in the top 10 which does not offer a sports degree.
Katherine Wyld Swimming GB Seniors and Commonwealth Games Team
56 athletes travelled to our Malaysia Campus for the Tri Campus Games, a mini-olympics between the Malaysian, Chinese and UK Campuses. This year we competed against each other in 19 sports, from Football to Ultimate Frisbee.
Ben Arnold Hockey England U21
Carl Delaney Rowing GB U23 European Bronze medallist
Paul Worth Speed skater GB Seniors Winter Olympics Vancouver 2010
The Student Volunteer Centre (SVC) ran their first Gold Awards this year, to recognise and reward student volunteers’ hard work. 33 nominations were received and 21 awards given to deserving students. By the end of the year the SVC had 2686 active volunteers, who helped out with a variety of local projects in schools, youth clubs and community centres. Knit-a-Soc, one of the Union’s newest societies, teamed up with the SVC to develop projects that would benefit others and give more of a purpose to their hobby. This included knitting tiny hats for the babies in the QMC Neonatal Ward and knitting mini hats to support Innocent’s ‘Big Knit’ campaign for Help the Aged.
This year we launched a Student Union module for the Nottingham Advantage Award. Students can now earn recognition for the skills that they gain whilst volunteering within the Students’ Union. So far 26 students have completed the module.
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Opportunities
Thanks to Golden Futures, a studentled project established with the help of the SVC, three disadvantaged young people from Cambodia started University in September 2009. The charity provides young people leaving Cambodian care homes with careers advice and interestfree loans to help them make the first steps towards independence.
“Give ring voluntee just to a try, not thin CV, a t u o d a p ven it might e our change y career!
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Services
The numbers of students wanting to get involved with the Students’ Union just keep rising; at Freshers’ Fair in 2009, 10,219 students signed up for society memberships over the 3 days. 2305 signed up for AU memberships. Overall, 12,473 signed up for societies during the year, 4,903 for AU Clubs.
A Greener Students’ Union
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Sounds on the Downs was enjoyed by all who attended, though very bad weather put a bit of a dampener on the day (literally!) There were however cool bands, completely green powered, and veggie and vegan food stalls.
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There was a successful campaign to reinstall environmental reps to the JCRs
Officers have been working hard this year to bring about real change by introducing simple measures:
www.su.nottingham.ac.uk
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The fight against plastic bags continued, with the Students’ Union shops continuing to charge 5p per bag. The revenue gained from this charge has fallen in the last year, suggesting the change is having a positive effect. The money was reinvested in the purchase of reusable jute bags
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We’ve installed water fountains in some campus hotspots with the aim of reducing the amount of bottled water bought.
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Fairtrade Fortnight saw the first Fairtrade football tournament and a Fairtrade roadshow, during which we gave out lots of Fairtrade goodies to students in halls.
We jumped from Bronze to Silver in the Sound Environmental Impact Awards, an award scheme which recognises the positive green innovations in Students’ Unions and the steps taken to become more sustainable. Your Students’ Union was especially commended for our recycling policies, electricity awareness and environmental campaigning. We’ve tried to become more environmentally friendly by installing water fountains and recycling office supplies such as toner cartridges. The Student Volunteer Centre and ethicallyfocused events like Sounds on the Downs also contributed towards us achieving the award.
Students’ Union shops facts and figures: The profit from your purchases in the Students’ Union Shops, Bars and Events goes towards funding all the other activities of the Students’ Union. The more you buy the more we can do for you. The biggest selling soft - drink was Coke Original 500ml: 26,616 bottles were sold. If the 26,616 bottles were laid end-to-end, they would cover a distance of over 6km (nearly 4 miles)enough to reach almost from University Park to Junction 26 of the M1 - as the crow flies!
Our students certainly have a sweet tooth; our Pick & Mix sales were over £26,000 last year. A hefty 3,535kg were scooped from the display bins over the 12 month period! That’s almost 4 tonnes... equivalent to an average sized female elephant!!
During the last year we’ve been working very hard to improve the Students’ Union website and make it easier to use. Our aim is to make it a one stop shop for all your Students’ Union needs. •
Students can now log on to the website with their university username and password.
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The Students’ Union membership system has been rolled out to Sutton Bonington, the Student Volunteer Centre (SVC) and the PGSA.
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Elections have been going online; the LGBT, PGSA, BME, Nottingham NAMA and JCR elections have been run through the website.
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NUTS are embedding key videos into the website.
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We’ve created a news and events channel for the University mobile application, Campus M. We’re also developing a mobile version of the Students’ Union website.
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This hard work has been paying off; there is increased traffic to the website, with over more than 700 students logging on each day and increased tickets and hoodie sales.
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Visitors to the website doubled over the year to 417,700 unique visits.
Services
The biggest selling single product across the shops by value (excluding E topups) was Ginsters Deep Fill Chicken & Bacon sandwich. The 23,384 individual units sold represented over £50,000 through the tills. A total of 2,338 loaves of bread were used just to make this one line for the Nottingham Students’ Union shops!
Students’ Union Website
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Finance In perspective…
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2009/10 saw an increase to the University Block Grant of about 2.5%. We negotiated a further 2.6% increase for 2010/11.
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Unfortunately there has been a heavy reduction in the donation from UNU Services. This is largely attributable to the closure of The Den as a full-time bar and a poor turnout at Summer Party.
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Our investment return also took a hit, predominately due to the financial climate. A new strategy is in place to maximise returns on our investments.
Income 08/09 University Grant............................. £2,185,212 Donation from UNU Services......... £207,481 Investment Income....................... £34,791 Food................................................ £49,296 Alternative Income....................... £107,495
Income 09/10 University Grant............................. £2,242,430 Donation from UNU Services......... £110,365 Investment Income....................... £10,637 Food................................................ £51,000 Alternative Income....................... £96,566
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2009/2010 saw a 10% increase in funding for representation, marking out one of our core aims as a Union.
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Similarly, there has been nearly a £10,000 increase in Association funding and a 9% increase for funding Student Activities.
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Furthermore, the Student Advice & Representation Centre (SARC), the Student Volunteer Centre (SVC) and Societies received increases in their funding.
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Overall, the Union made a deficit this year, which has been absorbed by the reserves. However, the implementation of our new investment strategy is indicative of the steps we are taking to secure our financial future.
Expenditure 08/09 Management.................................... £276,529 Administration................................... £169,269 Student Activities.............................. £160,619 Treasury............................................. £149,974 Student Volunteer Centre................ £101,316 Student Advice Centre.................... £191,674 Overheads........................................ £225,931 Association Grants........................... £490,043 AU....................................................... £284,581 Societies............................................ £48,505 Student Run Services........................ £51,890 Officers.............................................. £188,534 Representation.................................. £108,665
Management.................................... £310,380 Administration................................... £160,974 Student Activities.............................. £174,410 Treasury............................................. £146,396
Finance
Expenditure 09/10
Student Volunteer Centre................ £106,038 Student Advice Centre.................... £210,018 Overheads........................................ £294,723 Association Grants........................... £498,746 AU....................................................... £276,044 Societies............................................ £52,786 Student Run Services........................ £49,457 Officers.............................................. £194,502 Representation.................................. £119,821
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PRIZE WINNERS 2010 UNION PRIZE Simon Alvey Disabled Students’ Officer, URN and the Debating Union Luis Miguel Amaro President of Entrepreneurs, Erasmus student network, Massage Soc and AISEC Vice-President
Nicholas Coomber LGBT Committee Campaigns Officer
Emily Halford PGSA Welfare Officer and Committee Member
Robert Crookston President of NAMA, Course Rep, Nursing SSFC Co-ordination Group
Lucy Hewitt News Editor for URN.
Jimmy Dalton Karnival Rep, Exec member, Elections Committee, Steering Committee Sunita Deshmukh Faculty Co-ordinator
Mevin Ashleigh Appoo Ilhaam Moonaver Dhanani PGSA Committee, Sports Secretary and Rugby Captain Model United Nations; and a number of other committees within the Union Christopher Baxter Student Volunteer Centre Paul Duarte Course Rep and member Emily Bennett of his SSFC, Vice-President, Postgraduate Students’ and President of the Brazilian Association and Portuguese Society Sudhanshu Biyani Fergus Dufton Hindu Society URN as Presenter and Head of Daytime Planning Elizabeth Bourne Vice-President and President Joseph Henry Edwards of Ladies Lacrosse Karnival Treasurer Helen Budd Daniel Fox Postgraduate Students’ Hockey Club (President Association (Week and 1st Team Captain) One Volunteer and Social Secretary) Hugo Gemal President of NU Food society Gareth James Cash URN, Deputy Station Editor Jonathan Gosden Computer Science School Emma Celli rep, BizSoc Committee and Course Rep for NAMA, Elections Committee SSFC Chair and St. John’s Ambulance (LINKS) volunteer Benjamin Grech Founder and President of the Wayne Chalom Nottingham Entrepreneurs Week One Rep, Society Society President, Easy Tiger coordinator and Societies Eleanor B. Grundell Exec. Welfare Campaign Course Rep, a Society Social Co-ordinator for the Sec and President of the Welfare Network Duke of Edinburgh Awards
Wenjie Lee Democracy and Communications Officer, NUTS, JCR committee. Abbas Lightwalla English Society committee, TEC Committee, Undergraduate Rep. Charlotte Manicom Sounds on the Downs, One World Week and Fairtrade Fortnight. Eleanor Martin JCR President and Sutton Bonington JCR reforms. Andy McNamee New Theatre Director, Theatre Manager and Productions Co-ordinator. Eduardo Morgardo Founder of the Brazillian and Portuguese Society. Charlotte Nicol Environment and Social Justice Committee, Music Co-ordinator for Sounds on the Downs, Crocus Café volunteer and Young Greens. Stuart Benedict Nicolls Week One Rep for Sutton Bonington, Captain of the Rugby Club and Vice-President of the Shooting Club. Edward J. Reisner Musical Director of the Revival Gospel Choir. Rhys Rhodes Archery Club Secretary, Vice-President, Tournaments Officer and President.
Sophie Caroline Sandham New Theatre Publicity Officer. Zoe Sharp Director of the New Theatre, Deputy Editor of the Mic and URN Reporter. Andrew Sinclair Week One Co-ordinator. Robert Smith Week One Exec. Duncan Sparke Flairsoc Social Secretary and President, ‘Working in Tandem’ fundraising team, URN Matt Streets Sutton Bonington Guild. Joseph Tansley Involvement in a large number of committees over the past few years. Adam John Taylor Archery Club President, Secretary, Treasurer and Equipments Officer. Alex Tong Hockey Team Captain, IMS Hockey Officer and Ladies team coach. Michael Van Hong Latin and Ballroom and Salsa Society Team Captain, President and Competition Organiser. Lewis Vickers Producer at URN, Working in Tandem. Charles Walker Impact Associate Design Editor and Design Editor. Tom Whiter URN Deputy Station Editor and Head of Music.
Sydonie Williams Craig Cox Politics Society Committee, Craig has given the Union Societies Exec Finance Officer. outstanding service over several years. He has been Education Officer, Chair Zoe Wong of Council, on Elections Week One exec, BizSoc and Committee, on a JCR, Fashion Soc Committees. Societies Exec, History Soc DON VARLEY AWARD Treasurer, Conservative Society Vice-President and Christine O’Bryne then President to name but Christine worked in the a few. He is present at nearly Students’ Union Admin all Union events and is one department for nearly 20 of the most knowledgeable years. She is spoken of in the people about our Union. very highest regard, and most of the officers who have been under her remit say that they wouldn’t have been able to do their jobs were it not for her hard work and organisation. She is especially praised for her personal support, and for how much she cared about the Union.
David Hind Dave has put incredible effort into everything he has done and his dedication has been unwavering. As Social Sec for his JCR he was credited with going above and beyond his role, and as Summer Party Coordinator he was involved MARY MARSH AWARD in re-writing the constitution and reshaping the exec Sue Whiting when it made the transition to In the 3 years that she was with us Sue made a significant coming under the Students’ Union. As Democracy and contribution to improving Communications Officer, our financial processes and Dave pushed forward with information, and hence to the idea of broadcasting the quality of the Students’ Union events, such as Union Union’s decision-making. Council and Candidate Question Times, over the HONORARY LIFE internet, helping to inform AWARDS the student body as a Matthew Butcher whole about the Union. Matthew was Environment and Social Justice Officer, Alexandria Hingley President and Founder of Alex is recognised for her People and Planet, President prolonged commitment and Treasurer Young Greens to the Union; she has been Society, Conservation heavily involved with the Society, Crocus Café Board Netball club over several Member, Founder and years, from a player through Treasurer of Bike Society, to President. She was on the Stop Aids Campaigner AU Exec and has been the and Co-ordinator of AU Officer this year. It is in this Sounds on the Downs. role that she went particularly above and beyond. She has put a lot of time and effort into trying to improve the IMS set-up, and, following
a University-wide review, is hoping to restructure the JCRs to improve channels of communication between teams and the AU. She has also been working towards the idea of a branded AU to make teams feel more connected to each other and the Students’ Union. Patrick (Crouchy) Hopkins As well as being a very enthusiastic Societies Officer, an AU Exec IMS Officer, FUTSAL Captain and a member of various committees, Crouchy put in a great deal of effort as a Karni Rep, he organised Rag Raids and various events that raised lots of money. Crouchy is a dedicated professional in everything that he sets out to do.
JCR President, on the Mussoc Committee, but mainly his role as TEC Director this year. All SRS heads have to put in an extraordinary amount of time and effort but Richard has surpassed this. He ran TEC very professionally, competing locally with other ‘actual’ businesses, and did everything he could to make every event a success. He has given up his free time to ensure TEC is providing a quality service to student groups, helping establish the high esteem in which TEC is held.
Luke Foster Middup Luke was nominated for his work over the past seven years in a number of areas including URN, Conservative Future, Drafting Committee and Constitutions Committee. Rebecca Lockhart He is praised for his heavy Rebecca’s work this year involvement with the as Postgraduate Officer Debating Committee and has been exceptional, his involvement in Disability going above and beyond Action and the Disabled to achieve the best for all Students Network. Luke has students and to try and get gone to great lengths for PostGrads more involved the students he represents, in the Union. She has put ensuring that provision for on an incredible number Disabled Students is always of varied events, spending improving. He has done most weekends travelling up this through working in the and down the country on Early Induction Programme PostGrads’ Big Days Out, and for disabled freshers and hosted the biggest PG Week organising an accessibility One to date. She has been audit of university buildings. more than willing to help out He has not just been involved wherever possible, including in the Union; he has left an being on Elections Committee impact for the better. and Prizes and Awards Committee. She also set up Matthew Reeves the first PGSA in Malaysia, and Matt has been on the TEC reformed the PGSA in China Committee for three years, to bring it under the SU. and has dedicated incredible amounts of time to their Richard Lockington success through redesigning Richard has been recognised their website and in a number for his work as a successful of roles including Director.
He was also President of the Motor Sports Society and responsible for a large number of successful events, such as the Grad Ball and Summer Party. Katherine Shaw Kat has given an incredible amount of time to the AU Exec and several AU Clubs over three years, performing each role extremely well; Ents Officer, Social Sec for Trampolining, Coach for Trampolining, Diving Club, Gymnastics and Cheerleaders. James Torrance James has contributed to a number of areas of university life, as Faculty Co-ordinator, JCR President, JCR Presidents Committee Chair, World Debating Championships, New Theatre and Wine Soc Committee. He has also been hugely involved in Union Council, eager to help out and always focusing on the best interests of students. Alice Townend Alice was a very able Accommodation and Community Officer. Over the past few years, she has built and improved relationships within the local community as well as working with the Crocus Café. She worked on the SVC and Exec reforms and has also been Hispanic Soc Treasurer, Forum VicePresident, a very active Elections Committee member and an NUS Delegate twice. Ben Townsend Ben is well known for his work as Station Manager of URN over the past two years and his role as a
conductor in Mussoc. He has put immense amounts of time and effort into his work with URN, ensuring that everything possible is done to improve the station. He has won awards for some of his shows, and has been involved in the restructuring of URN, with the aim of providing a better service, and was committed to improving the visibility and accessibility of the station to students. Thomas Williams Tom has worked tirelessly to bring about real change through implementing simple measures. He reformed People and Planet as President and Treasurer and as Environment and Social Justice Officer Tom organised a number of initiatives including One World Week, Sound Impact, water fountains, Green Guide, plastic bags, Fairtrade Fortnight, Fairtrade Status, various cycling initiatives and Sounds on the Downs. Tom also lobbied Estates to put an allotment on campus and Broadgate Park shop to stock Fairtrade tea and coffee.
Dalia Fleming Dalia was a very successful Women’s Officer and involved in numerous Committees and Campaigns, including Homophobia in Halls, LGBT Networks, Vice-Chair on SU Council, Elections Committee, BME General Committee Member, Students’ Equality and Diversity Advisory Group, NUS LGBT Conference Delegate and NUS Women’s Campaign Conference. She was elected at the 2009 conference to the National Committee. She is also regional Advisor for NUS Women’s Campaign for the East Midlands, delivering workshops and talking to students nationwide.
Claire Game Claire was nominated for her outstanding work on the Exec this year and previous roles on Week One Exec, Society Committee member, Campaigns Coordinator for the Welfare Network and Societies Exec member. Stepping into a brand new officer role she has set an extraordinary precedent for her successor. She introduced new events to the societies calendar, ORDO CALIGULAE including the Cultural Fair Stewart Bailey Stewart has been involved in and ‘I Heart Socs’, whilst the Students’ Union for several ensuring existing events were a success. She has years; he is enthusiastic and worked very hard with SRSs has been a very successful Finance and Services Officer on their projects, including New Theatre and Karni, and Student-Run-Services Officer. Stewart has organised and has been invaluable to these student groups. a Week One Party, sat on Commercial Services Panel, helped to organise the Summer Party, developed the JCR reserves scheme, digital noticeboards and achieved an increase in block grant despite the economic conditions.
Rob Greenhalgh Rob has been an inspirational president this year. His leadership qualities and support of the Exec have been excellent. As his previous experience shows, Rob is a very talented individual who is called upon time and time again to take on important tasks which he does so with ease and determination to succeed. He has been Hugh Stewart Hall Week One Rep, Medsin Events Co-ordinator, Week One Co-ordinator and on Graduate Ball Committee. Rob has been a credit to the Students’ Union in all he has done and thoroughly deserves a prize. Sam Wilkinson Sam has been on the Karni Exec and involved with the HuStu Summer Party, but it is as Accommodation and Community Officer that he has been most impressive. He has been a great source of energy to the Exec and run a number of highly successful campaigns, including a House Hunting Campaign, and a campaign getting people to vote. He has established a system of Student Community Wardens and worked to provide Digital Screens in Halls. Sam is also widely praised for improving relations with Sutton Bonington to bring it more within our Students’ Union.
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