Its been a majorly busy time since I last updated you all before Christmas!! Normally a time for rest and relaxation, I've found myself up and down the country, with lots of meetings and projects to organise this year! I'm now three quarters through my two years as President, and I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel! Here are a few of the things I've been up to recently - there's always more to add but I'm trying to keep it semi-brief!

Curriculum for Change

This is an ongoing University project curriculum redesign/efficiencies project, and they're pretty good at wanting student voice in the decision making spaces - which is great! But a lot of meetings! I'm continuing my student focus groups for this year, they went really well last year, and I'm looking forward to carrying them on. If you'd like to be involved in any way, shoot me a message!

Council and Senate

These are the senior academic and wider University governance boards which I sit on. There's some pretty divisive topics coming up in the next few sessions (one of which is held in Penryn), some of my time is taken up preparing papers and presentations for that, alongside reading the hundreds of pages of papers! In these spaces I really try and emphasise the need for more voices in Cornwall. We are often overshadowed in these spaces, and I find myself continually advocating for people to remember we are part of the University too! Council being in Cornwall is a great opportunity to showcase all that we do here, and highlighting the specific issues we face.

Graduation

How can I do my updates without mentioning Graduation! Its been a rough month... some people have been furious about the change in venue, some have been happy, lots of people haven't felt heard throughout the process. Alongside my representative role, where I've been feeding back the responses and sentiments, I've also been lobbying for spaces where greater student voice can be heard. In response to this, I facilitated a DVC session with Martin Siegert, where students could speak face to face with him about their grievances. Alongside this, a graduation committee has been created to allow greater student perspective and input on the operational aspects of Cornwall Graduation. I'd like to thank everyone who has chosen to engage in a productive way, and please do get in contact if you have any other ideas/perspectives.

Palestine Working Groups

I'm continuing to do work on the Palestine working groups, with the Investment and Treasury one being the most active of the two. I'm really excited and engaged around this work, and students are also engaging a lot with these, and the papers with recommendations will be going to UEB and Council for approval in the coming months. I'm also finalising our SU comms piece on Palestine, outlining all the work we've done in this space over the past 15 months.

Climate and Nature Bill

Marketa and I have been doing some lobbying on the Climate and Nature Bill. We've been lobbying local MP's and decision makers, to use their influence and vote for this Bill. Unfortunately, this landmark piece of legislation was forced to be dropped, and its doubtful that something this radical will be introduced again. We are upset that this has happened, but are grateful for the opportunity to continue dialogue with our MP's, and other local stakeholders. This increases the visibility and presence of the Students' Union, and by extension, students in Cornwall.

PGR Academic Representation

Alongside some SU staff, I've been trying to do greater work in the PGR space. A lot of issues stem from people believing that the SU doesn't represent them, so we're trying to do more work in engaging PGR's, and understanding the different ways and needs they have for representation.

Food

Soup and Pantry are going well! With a raging cost of living crisis We're stocking our pantry on both campus' every week, the uptake for this is huge, and we can't fully keep up with demand. I'm also currently looking at other funding streams for free soup, to ensure longevity after I leave. Please do pop in and make use of these provisions - they're there for you! As always, I'm here for a chat, feel free to email or drop in for a cuppa!