Xiaohongshu
Election post
Through my roles as Student Ambassador and EDI Ambassador at UCL, I have built experience speaking to large groups and liaising with academics on inclusion initiatives. I have years of experience organising fundraising events and volunteering to support vulnerable people in my community. I have worked retail jobs alongside my studies, which means I understand financial pressure as a lived reality. I listen well, I follow through, and I do not shy away from difficult conversations. Everything I have done has been for communities like the one I came from, and this role is no different.
- Introduce a peer mentoring programme pairing low-income students with senior students from similar backgrounds
- Launch a Social Mobility Awareness Week including alumni panels, networking and careers workshops, and honest conversations about class and money at UCL
- Advocate for a curriculum that reflects the backgrounds and histories of all students
- Destigmatise accessing financial support, making sure students know what they are entitled to
- Foster a stronger sense of community among working-class students and ensure their voices are visible across the university
I grew up in Yorkshire, the daughter of Pakistani immigrants, the first in my family at university. I know what it feels like to arrive at UCL and wonder whether you belong here. I am running because I want students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to feel proud of where they come from and confident in their ability to succeed. My history degree has given me the language to understand what I already knew growing up: that these inequalities are structural and that they can be challenged. I am therefore dedicated to making UCL a place where every student feels they have a right to be here.
As UCL marks its 200th year, I hope that in another 200 years it will be a place where background no longer shapes how students experience university life. Where working-class students do not just attend UCL, but feel that they belong, thrive, and lead within it. Where diversity is understood to include social class and lived experience, and where every student, regardless of where they grew up or what their parents did, feels equally confident that this university is a place for them. I believe that this is the UCL worth building.