Your leaders.

President, Matthew, is pushing for more affordable food across campus by working with the University and catering services to secure better deals for students in the shop, at Market Day, and in University run outlets. This was also a priority last year, so Matthew will continue that work by pushing for a joint loyalty scheme between the Students' Union and the University across outlets, and by working to introduce TooGoodToGo bags across campus. Student surveys and focus groups will help build a strong case for change, so get involved or email president@su.rhul.ac.uk with your thoughts.

VP Education, Josh, is prioritising efforts to tackle the intense clustering of deadlines, which often sees multiple major assignments due within the same week or even the same day. Josh will meet with Academic Reps and staff across all Departments and Faculties to understand how deadlines are set and identify best practice, review existing recommendations and SSAM action logs, and develop a deadline visualisation tool for students. He will also push all departments to publish upcoming deadline dates before students pick modules, as the Business School and Economics department already do, consult the University on a deadline stacking extension, and work with Bana, VP Wellbeing & Diversity, to promote support like the Extensions and Extenuating Circumstances Policy.

VP Societies & Sport, Nathan, is focusing on improving how student timetables work in practice. He will review previous survey data and student testimonials to identify inefficiencies in the current system, research timetabling processes at other Universities for comparison, and meet with the timetabling staff team to understand how decisions are currently made. Nathan will advocate for fewer early and late classes, earlier timetable release, and reduced Wednesday lectures, and will propose a new student focused approach that also works for professors. Alongside this, he'll create engaging daytime content and events so students have somewhere to go regardless of their timetable.

President, Matthew, is working to improve safety both on and off campus. On campus, this includes stronger communication and campaigns around safety in the Venue, increasing security measures, working with RHUL Campus Watch to improve their service and support for students, and continuing to advocate for the opening of the back gate. Off campus, Matthew will write a local community improvement plan focused on increasing street lighting and road safety. Get in touch to have your voice heard on this priority.

VP Societies & Sport, Nathan, will start by analysing current daytime events and engagement levels to inform a new approach, proposing new ideas alongside polls to estimate interest. He'll make it easier to find out about current daytime events, use timetabling data to target events at students most likely to be interested based on their course, and work with the events manager to make the SU building more appealing and accessible during the day. Nathan will also create content that makes checking out daytime events a habit, and give students the chance to propose their own event ideas.

VP Wellbeing & Diversity, Bana, is working with campus outlets, including The Hub and Founder's Dining Hall, to provide more dietary options such as halal and gluten free food, and with Market Day vendors to widen the range of culturally diverse food while working with the President on affordability. She'll create a campus food map showing where students can find food that meets different dietary requirements, run a social media campaign with cultural societies sharing affordable recipes from different cultures, and represent students at the Catering Steering Group to push for change based on student feedback. Bana will also support cultural and faith initiatives like Campus Unity Week and Ramadan through food focused events, organise community meals and cultural food events, increase the range of options in community cupboards, and continue exploring options to provide raw halal meat for purchase in Egham.

VP Education, Josh, is assessing the new Curriculum Framework as a way of quality checking existing courses, and will communicate this to students, highlighting how they can influence change through the Academic Rep system and module surveys. He'll work with the Moodle Working Group to help decide on the platform's continued use and, once a decision is made, ensure a consistent template is used across departments. Josh will also develop a student friendly guide on how to make the most of your education, review NSS Working Group plans to direct his efforts, and run a Policy Forum on the education experience at Royal Holloway with Faculty and Departmental reps, open to all students, using what's learned to run further focus groups that reflect student experiences and academic interests.

VP Wellbeing & Diversity, Bana, will meet with University staff to understand how the current Extenuating Circumstances process works, and run focus groups with students to hear about their experiences applying for it. She'll represent that feedback to senior University leadership and lobby for change, and launch an awareness campaign explaining how Extenuating Circumstances work and where students can access support, integrating this into existing campaigns like Wobble Week and Stressbusters. Bana will also review the EDI strategy to make sure student leaders understand current university and union services, run sessions for student leaders on how to signpost community members, and work with VP Education, Josh, to promote the policies around Extensions and Extenuating Circumstances and how they can ease pressure from deadline stacking.