Debating Society: Vice-President

Hi I’m Nur and I’m running for VP/Social Secretary! To me, debate is special in its capacity to give people the space to learn, make mistakes, and grow. As VP/Social Sec I endeavour to protect and nurture this within debate sessions and social events. I aspire to make every social event positive and welcoming through exciting themes, like board games nights or collaborating with societies you’d never expect (perhaps a sports club!), within UCL but with other universities too, to reaffirm our sense of community and belonging. Putting you first will be my biggest priority: whatever goals we have, I aspire to make it happen immediately and effectively.

My leadership experience extends far. As former debate president, mental health ambassador, current lead speaker on SEAS (charity organisation) and Taekwondo coach, I’ve learned how to bring out the best in everyone, including myself, and lead with excellence. I also know how to host a great social, but also ones that point to a good cause. Having recently hosted a Malaysian dinner event of over 30 attendees and over £200 raised (!), I will always guarantee a great and meaningful time for all.

I will channel my leadership and social experience to debate. What we have at UCL is special because despite being a big club, there is such a great sense of family and care for one another. As your future VP/Social Sec I will passionately listen to all of your wants and needs, so that your time at UCL debate is as memorable as it can be.

Hey Everyone! 

My name is Kanva Thakeria and a lot of you would know me as one of the Convenors of the Debating Society for this year and I have had the pleasure of helping to organise UCL's President's Cup alongside my fellow Convenors. During this election cycle I am running to be the Vice President of the Debating Society and I look forward to organising a range of exciting events in my role as VP if I am elected!

As you may be aware, the primary role of the VP is to help organise an array of Public Debates for the society and I have drawn up a tentative list of possible societies with whom I hope we can collaborate to run these debates. I hope to not only work with one society at a time but also help ignite a broader discourse at these events by working with multiple societies in a similar field on the same event to bring together a wide range of perspectives at the same event. 

I do not hope to dismiss however how challenging this might be but with my experience and support from committee I am confident we can have some truly great debates! My role as convenor, especially in organising tournaments, has allowed me to see the challenges of actually organising a competition and my learnings from other members in committee on how to actually organise an event is something I aim to carry forward as VP.  Moreover my time debating at national level for India and then for UCL as well I believe puts me in good stead to understanding what goes into making these events a success.