Role Description: Societies and clubs at Queen Mary cover a huge range of interests (over 300!) and can be a great way to pursue passions and build strong friendships. Every year, we have thousands of new students eager to get involved and the Societies Officer plays an important role in being the voice of these students. As a Societies Officer, you will approve new societies, plan and deliver events as well as allocate funding, all while working closely with Students’ Union staff. You’d also ensure that BL Societies and the Students’ Union maintain strong communication so that everything runs smoothly!

What's your favourite moment from being a student here?

It's difficult to pick just one moment, but I definitely really enjoyed the BL Association Dinner last year! It was my first Association Dinner, and to be honest I didn’t really know what to expect initially, but it was a great experience overall. It was lovely to see many familiar faces (and to personally know some award winners – shout-out to Dr Daramola and SAMDA!). The atmosphere of genuine celebration of the student community was a very welcome respite from the never-ending busyness of being a healthcare student. Most importantly, sitting alongside everyone in fancy dress singing BLSA anthems and even seeing the staff become impassioned, it would’ve been difficult not to feel proud of being part of the Barts community! Also, for highlights of my student experience, honourable mentions to Weekends Away with BL Christian Union and BL Freshers’ Fayre!

What's something you've done that you're proud of?

One thing I’m proud of is having volunteered with SAMDA (Student Assisted Medical and Dental Applications) over the past year and a half. This has included helping with various mock medicine interviews, helping run a medicine taster day, and helping organise and participating in a schools visit programme, with a focus on students from underprivileged backgrounds in East London. Volunteering with SAMDA has given me the opportunity to personally help many aspiring medical students, and I have found the experience to be really rewarding. I can see that this is making a difference even just from talking to one of my fellow mock interviewers, who had previously been helped by SAMDA and is now a first-year medical student at Barts. It’s also helped me develop new skills, such as public speaking, and improving my written communication as part of organising the schools visit programme. Most importantly, I look forward to seeing some of this year’s SAMDA students joining Barts in September!

What is a problem facing students and how do you propose to fix it?

One issue I have found is that although many students are really involved in various BL societies, I have met many students who have not felt able or informed enough to get involved with societies, and I believe it is important to change this. For me, societies have been an essential part of student life, where I have found community, explored my faith and my interests, and developed new skills. My hope is that every student at Barts would feel able and empowered to get involved with societies, and I want to achieve this by turbo-charging BL Societies social media and on-campus engagement; partnering with existing societies to better promote events; and empowering students to start new (and old) societies where they feel there’s something missing amongst current BL societies.

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