Every day throughout the last week of term, we'll be taking the opportunity to recognise the outstanding achievements of incredible students and staff from across the College. First up, are our wonderful Collectives!
Each year, we recognise our members for the extraordinary work they have done throughout the academic year.
Usually, this takes place through our Laurels Award ceremony in Term 3, but due to the uncertainty caused by the current climate, a decision was made not to hold the event this year. Despite Laurels not going ahead, we felt that it was still super important to recognise these incredible individuals - not only those who have engaged within our structures (such as academic reps, Collectives and Executives), but also other members of the student body, and College staff who have been recognised through the You're Valued Awards scheme.
Every day throughout the last week of term, we'll be taking the opportunity to highlight a different set of achievements. First up, are our wonderful Collectives. Like many of our student groups, Collectives have faced an incredibly challenging year. Engaging students in understanding the role of Collectives while still only being in their second year is already a big achievement, but doing so in the midst of a pandemic and successfully increasing their memberships in the process is certainly worth celebrating!
Celebrating our Collectives
Kicking things off we’d like to highlight the work that our PGR Collective has been involved in. Back in January, a new PGR Forum was created in partnership with the Doctoral School to bring together leaders within the PGR community to discuss key issues impacting them. Your PGR Collective and PGR academic reps have been key in running and contributing to effective meetings and creating positive changes for the PGR community.
Some of our Collectives have also been involved in connecting students in celebration of history months that have taken place throughout the year such as our Disabled Students Collective which connected students to activities being run by students across multiple institutions. The LGBT+ Collective coordinated events for LGBT+ History Month in partnership with the LGBT+ Society.
All of your Collectives also took part in wider projects such as a focus group investigating themes of campus and community safety. They also fed into an internal SU security review. They’ve also been involved in collaborations with university projects such as feeding into the work that the Widening Access team delivers, as well as the Chair of the Disabled Students Collective attending the Disabled Student and Staff Working Group.
If you’re not sure what the Collectives are, we currently have eight and they are completely run by students:
- Women
- LGBT+
- Disabled Students
- BAME Students
- International Students
- Commuting Students
- PGR Students
- PGT Students
Check out the Collectives
What do the Collectives do?
Ultimately, they help to give underrepresented groups a platform to have their voices heard. As well as organising activities, events and campaigns, they receive support and work with the Union to secure the general interests and rights of students that self-define into the relevant group. If you identify within a group (or multiple groups for that matter), you can become a member by purchasing a FREE membership on our website. Even if you don’t define into the group you can register yourself as a supporter, allowing you to take part in any of the activities run by the Collectives.
Find out more
You can find out more information about each of the Collectives, and join for free by checking out their respective pages on our website. Watch this space as we elect new leaders in the autumn term and you can get in on the action.