Our final 2022/23 Officer Update
We're heading into our final week as your SU Officer team!
Before we go, we wanted to give you one final update on what we've been up to recently, and an overview of some of our individual highlights from the last 12 months.
Thanks to all students for your support this year. We were particularly proud of the massive 20% turnout to elections! Your 2023/24 officer team (how were elected in the May 2023 elections) will begin their handover next week!
Fortunately, you won’t have to miss us too much, since as all four of us who ran in this year's elections were re-elected – that’s Izzy, Saranya, Nicole and Adam! The new officer team will also include Temilola Adeniyi, Bakhtawar Javed and Pat Gibbs.
Lu, Adam, Lucy, Saranya, Nicole and Izzy
Our Highlights From This Year
Cost of Living Support
Cost of Living has had a massive impact on students all over the UK this year and has been a big focus for us as one of our collective priorities. We were pleased to work with the University on a number of initiatives including cheap hot meals on campus (which we would like to see continued next year) and additional bursary/ hardship funding for students.
Support During Industrial Action
Industrial action has been a big disruptor to students this year, and we’ve been doing our best to keep students informed on UCU and UNISON strikes. Bristol SU supports strike action, as voted on in Student Council (one of our democratic events). We have reflected this stance whilst providing support and information for students.
Contributing at a National Level
With help from SU staff members, we submitted a response to the All-Party Parliamentary Group’s inquiry into the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on students. Izzy also spoke to officers around the UK about the cost-of-living crisis, discussing how SUs can collaborate on the issue at the NUS Cost of Living Campaign Day. Adam and Lu represented Bristol SU within the Russel Group Students’ Unions group and fed into discussions with other elected officer teams around national lobbying on cost-of living, mental health and wellbeing and more.
Graduations
Graduation is a massive part of any student’s experience at university, and we wanted to reflect that. We were incredibly grateful for the invitation to speak at several graduation ceremonies this year. Adam, Izzy, Nicole, and Lucy gave speeches at several ceremonies, and Lu gave a speech at her own graduation ceremony. We greatly appreciate the opportunities to speak at events celebrating our student body such as graduations, hope such invitations continue going forward.
Individual Highlights from 2022/23
Lu Macey
After two years as Postgraduate Education Officer, I look back on my time in-post with pride for my achievements, and gratitude for my colleagues! This academic year, I led on the SU’s response to Industrial Action, which was a big priority for me as I know how much strike action can affect students. This involved speaking for the interests of PGRs and working with SU staff to ensure up-to-date information was available.
Delivering more postgraduate events was a big highlight for me! We re-launched ‘Postgrad Thursdays’, an initiative that provided discounted food and drinks to postgraduates on Thursdays and held fortnightly Postgraduate Mingles throughout TB1, which focused on bringing postgraduates together through various activities. I also acquired funding to run a series of postgraduate-only events during summer 2023, to ensure PGTs and PGRs have opportunities for them outside of the standard ‘academic year’.
Adam Michael
As one of my priorities were to reform Bristol SU’s approach to democracy, I put a lot of focus into creating more awareness and interest in democracy, including forming and delivering the Bristol SU Public Forums and was pleased with the very positive turnout for Student Council in November, and Annual Members’ Meeting (AMM) in February!
Another big win was securing £10,000 in additional funding from the University to increase our SU Activity Hardship Fund. This effectively tripled the pot for the Fund, and enabled many more students to participate in student groups and activities that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford.
Lucy Matthews
I’ve loved my time as the Sport and Student Development Officer, and I am looking forward to seeing what next year’s Officer Team can achieve! One of my biggest wins was securing free buses to and from Coombe Dingle on Wednesdays, to increase not only the participation in sports, but also the number of spectators watching home BUCS games. I also sat on every panel of the SU Activity Hardship Fund, allocating much-needed funding to student groups.
Another highlight was launching and running my ‘She Can, They Can’ campaign, which aimed to inspire and empower all women, non-binary people, and other marginalised genders, to take part in sport and feel confident when doing so. Running through November, I held movie nights, drop-ins, carnival fitness, SCTC gym sessions and classes, as well as highlighting female sports teams throughout the month!
Saranya Thambirajah
One of my priorities was to improve support for victims of sexual violence. Therefore, a big highlight for me was the Reclaim campaign where I was able to work with student groups such as I-fem soc, and the SU’s Women’s Network, with support from SU. This included leading the first march since the pandemic, which had great turnout and coverage!
I have also focussed on tackling racial inequality. I worked closely with the university on the Legacies of Slavery and Renaming Buildings project and consultation. I campaigned in favour of renaming buildings linked to the slave trade, whilst advocating for more meaningful efforts to address the legacies of slavery and colonialism in our university and our city. My efforts included published statements and appeared in media coverage related to this issue.
Nicole Antoine
I am so excited to have been re-elected as Undergraduate Education Officer for 23/24 and am looking forward to continuing to work on impactful projects as I’ve done this year! One of my highlights was working with the University on their Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) submission, with me being the student representative lead for the SU’s TEF submission.
Another highlight was working with Library Services and Study Skills to create a Study Skills video, promoting the services available to students! We now have a whole page of Study Support resources on the Bristol SU Website!
Izzy Russell
I’m happy to be continuing as Student Living Officer for 2023-24 after being re-elected! One of my highlights was the My Rent My Rights campaign, which aimed to inform and prepare students as they look for housing in Bristol. Leading on from the campaign, I’m proud of my work filming with, and being interviewed by, several media outlets such as UBTV, Channel 4 News, and The Times, talking about the student renting crisis and housing crisis within the city.
Another highlight was my work into student safety and wellbeing, including assisting in organising harm reduction outreach sessions in student accommodation. This was done in collaboration with Resilife and Bristol Drugs Project, giving students advice, assistance, and harm reduction tools. I also worked with university staff on a Sexual Violence Awareness video.
