Xiaohongshu
Zhixuan Sun (Cecilia) is an MSc student at UCL and a Student Storyteller, writing about culture, memory and student life in London.
International Women’s Day is a chance to celebrate progress, and to look closely at what it makes possible. One milestone stands out at UCL this year: the Students’ Union UCL’s 2025–26 Sabbatical Officer team is all women.
What does that visibility mean, and what has it changed for students? I spoke to the officers about their proudest moments, their toughest lessons, and the impact they hope students can feel.
Meet the 2025–26 all-women Sabbatical Officer team
The team is led by Anam, President. She is joined by Ana, Activities and Engagement Officer; Darcy, Postgraduate Officer; Eda, Equity and Inclusion Officer; Hana, Welfare and Community Officer; and Sarah, Education Officer.
Sabbatical officers are full-time elected student leaders, working across academic experience, wellbeing, community, inclusion and student engagement, while representing students’ voices in UCL’s decision-making spaces.
For me, seeing an all-women officer team this year feels like a shift in what leadership looks like at UCL. It changes who can imagine themselves in the role. For women students in particular, that visibility can soften an unspoken barrier: the feeling that you need to prove you belong before you’re allowed to take up space.
Amy (name changed), a first-year student, told me: “It makes me feel like I don’t have to prove I belong before I even begin.” That sense of permission might be small, but it can make a difference. A postgraduate student I spoke to described it as “quiet reassurance” during an intense year. Representation matters most when it shows up in everyday trust: feeling able to raise a concern, ask a question, or step into leadership without second-guessing yourself. It isn’t about excluding anyone, but about widening who feels welcome.
Representation matters most when it shows up in everyday trust: feeling able to raise a concern, ask a question, or step into leadership without second-guessing yourself.
UCL has a long history of widening access for women. As the university marks UCL200, that history makes this year feel quietly significant: women are not only included in the story, but trusted with the roles that shape it, leading within it, making decisions, and striving for more.
“A sisterhood” how it feels from the inside
Being “all-women” is not the point of the work, but it can shape how the work feels. Hana described the team dynamic as “kind of like a sisterhood”, saying they became “comfortable with each other quickly and easily”. In a role spanning wellbeing, accommodation, housing and safety, that sense of ease can matter. It creates space for people to communicate clearly, stay grounded, and keep showing up through demanding weeks.
What struck me in the interviews is how representation becomes tangible in everyday student trust. Anam described the all-women officer team as “so powerful”, saying it shows students that leadership “isn't limited by gender” and that women belong “where strategy, influence, and decision-making are at the centre”. As UCL marks its bicentenary in 2026, the team’s visibility carries a clear message: women can lead at the centre of decision-making, while building a Union culture rooted in student wellbeing and belonging.
From campus to Parliament: where student leadership can take you
Student leadership often starts with everyday campus concerns, but it can travel much further than most students expect. For Sarah, one of the defining moments of her year as Education Officer was presenting in Parliament at an all-party parliamentary group for students, where she spoke about student funding and maintenance support. She remembers “frantically” writing down what she wanted to say beforehand, determined to be prepared, and afterwards needing to “take a step back” and think: “wow, I can’t believe I did that.”
Listening to Sarah describe the experience, what stood out was not the prestige of Parliament, but the shift in perspective it invites. Leadership, in her telling, is less about effortless confidence and more about preparation, responsibility, and the willingness to step into rooms that might once have felt out of reach. On International Women’s Day, that feels especially meaningful. It suggests that women and students are not only affected by decisions, but can also be present in the spaces where those decisions are shaped.
Impact that students can actually feel
The most convincing measure of student leadership is not how busy the calendar looks, but whether a student’s day gets easier, safer, or more hopeful because of it. What came through in the interviews is how often impact is built through practical changes that quietly reshape campus life.
Cost of living support you can use
Anam describes cost of living support as one of her earliest priorities, and her approach has been strongly practical: pushing for more affordable food options, building a community fridge supplied through Union and UCL cafés, and introducing an essential cupboard that will provide free food during exam time. Cost of living pressure often shows up in the smallest decisions. Support has impact when it’s practical, immediate and easy to access.
A more transparent module-choice experience
Sarah is developing a platform to make module selection easier and more transparent. Her project will provide short sample lecture recordings, so students can listen to a small part of a module and better understand what they are choosing before committing. This will help students make more informed choices, especially when they are deciding between similar modules.
Safer journeys for UCL East students
Eda points to a change that’s felt immediately in day-to-day life: the launch of the UCL East Shuttle Bus, delivered after 18 months of lobbying and sustained discussions with senior UCL stakeholders. She says it is already making a real difference for UCL East students and residents, creating a safer and shorter daily commute to campus. Sometimes the most meaningful impact is the kind you notice every morning and evening, when getting where you need to be becomes simpler, quicker, and more secure.
Adequate Student Facilities
Ana says that her key project has been working with UCL on ensuring students have access to facilities for extra-curriculars. She says that "it is the main issue we have students raise issues about" and therefore it is very important for us as the sabbatical team to work together and convince UCL about their importance. 'This year the team has been very supportive in raising the issues of a lack of sports facilities in every meeting' and Ana says that she can already see the impact the team working together has made on UCL by making it to their list of key projects.
Housing forums: letting student experience lead accommodation work
Improving accommodation and housing was one of Hana’s first priorities in the role. She says it has to start with listening, and ran a series of housing forums to hear directly from students about what they want. By giving students a dedicated space to raise concerns, the forums help identify recurring issues and generate substantiated strong and clear points to take into discussions with the university.
Hana has been able to bring back the undergraduate guarantee for students that apply for UCL accommodation and is continuing to work with UCL to secure a guarantee for postgraduate students too. She is also supporting Hall Community Officers to voice their concerns directly with UCL accommodation in HCO Forums where actions from improving the MyCampus reporting system to the Circuit laundry systems are made regularly.
Closing the information gap for postgraduates
Darcy’s focus is more on making support usable: reducing the information gap that keeps postgraduates from opportunities they could benefit from. By working with UCL Careers to run online career panels and guidance aimed at students considering work in China, Darcy is trying to make career support easier to reach for one-year taught postgraduates and busy researchers alike. When advice is timely and accessible, the impact is immediate: students feel less lost, and the next decision becomes clearer.
Proud moments and what they learned
Across the interviews, one shared lesson kept resurfacing: leadership rarely feels like effortless confidence. More often, it looks like preparation, persistence, and the willingness to stay in difficult conversations. Eda described a key turning point as learning to “balance long-term advocacy with short-term ‘quick wins’ that create immediate but lasting impact.”
For several officers, the proudest moments came when a student concern finally moved from discussion to commitment: a service launched, a policy clarified, a safety issue treated with urgency. Reflecting on practical support with the cost of living, Anam said: “It wasn’t just symbolic. It made a tangible difference to students’ everyday lives, helping them eat well without financial stress.”
The next team starts with you
This year’s all-women sabbatical team didn’t appear by chance. It happened because students decided to step forward and be visible. And it won’t last beyond one year unless more of us keep that door open.
Anam’s advice is simple: “Show up”. Come to events, ask questions, and take up space in the Students’ Union, even if you’re not sure you belong yet. Hana put it even more directly: “the power is with the students”, and the Students’ Union works best when students keep feeding in what matters to them.
So here’s your invitation. Start small if you want: join a society, volunteer at one event, or attend a forum and share what your course or community needs. If you’re ready for more, take a committee role, become a course rep, or get involved in campaigns and networks. And with voting for this year’s Leadership Race opening soon, make your voice count – and if you’re thinking about leadership yourself, consider standing next year.
The next team starts with you.