Sabbatical Officer Start of November Updates

The Sabbatical Officers write a fortnightly update on the work they've been doing to represent you. Their reports cover updates on current projects and collaborations with different student groups, academic departments, and community organisations. 

Additionally, their work, as outlined in their report, is scrutinised and voted on by other elected student leaders in our Zones. You can read more about them here: Policy Zones & Union Executive. 

Eda, Equity & Inclusion Officer

What I've been up to!

What a month! October was beautifully chaotic, and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

This is how I've been connecting with students.

I have attended the zones and the Policy Zone Summit. I also had the privilege to speak to many student artists during the Liberate exhibition launch.

Here's more about the meetings I've attended over the past two weeks.

- I raised student perspective on Report + Support numbers at UCL EDI Committee.
- Chaired the UCL East Student Forum and talked to students about what they would like to see at UCL East.
-During the catch-up meeting with Student Support & Wellbeing Services, I mentioned how we can integrate our student groups in their events like Beat the January Blues, etc.

Ana, Activities & Engagement Officer

What I've been up to!

This period has been busy with me attending a lot of events and speaking to a variety of students, gathering their feedback on the work we do and what we can do better, including the Activities Zone, 5k run, London Varsity Series Student Briefing, UCL East ' Your Guide to Thrive Campaign', and others. It was also the season for a lot of panels, like studio bids, Friends Trust, and Affiliations. I have also been progressing on some key priorities that I have set out for the year and have got the ball rolling with some groundwork:

This is how I've been connecting with students.

Over the past few weeks, I have communicated with students through a variety of means:

- Having discussions and receiving feedback at the Activities Zone about the projects we are working on, such as Varsity, Festival of Student Life, and breaking down barriers.
- Attending the 2 semi-final trials for the University Challenge.
- Marshalling at the UCL Halloween 5k run, interacting with students and cheering them on, and taking pictures.
- Attending Sports Night.
- Going to UCL East to join the 'Your Guide to Thrive Campaign' as a representative from the SU, speaking to students there and asking them what kind of events they would like to see there.
- Attending Eda's opening of her Art Gallery, speaking to some of the student artists and congratulating them on their achievement and hard work.
- Attending the London Varsity Series Student Briefing held with all clubs involved from both sides, which is a way for them to plan what venues, timings, and other organisational things they will be doing. Dulcie and I, my King's opposite, walked around and talked to many of the clubs so they know who to go to when they have questions.
- Answering emails and queries from students and having 1-1 conversations.
- Through my activities newsletter and blog post debrief after the Activities Zone.

Here's more about the meetings I've attended over the past two weeks.

- I have been working hard to prepare for the first Activities Zone of the year as I proposed a different format to ensure that my members and students felt like they were able to contribute to ongoing projects and see their ideas and thoughts being acted upon during the year. Therefore, I have been having a few meetings to ensure the guest staff that were presenting knew what they were doing and that their questions were relevant to the audience in the room. The zone itself was a success with huge amounts of engagement and idea generating and this will be the structure going forward to make activities zone more of a platform for change.
- I have been having catch ups to talk about and agree on the commuter and introverted events we will be trialling in Term 1. We agreed on some suggestions, timings, and type of events, including a cat café, speedfriendings, free lunchtime socials, some discover London events.
- I attended the ExtendED programme board, where we discussed the successes of the project last year and which students we are wanting to target this year, which include clubs & socs leaders and undergrads, which are both groups I am really passionate about engaging more. As part of a more structured approach to learning, where we have skills practice sessions following the initial learning, I have been working on creating an event tailored for student leaders on how to run/create your own event skills hackathon, which would equip students with the skills on running successful big events. This will be integrated with the wider ExtendED conference me and Darcy will be working on.
- Along with other student officers I was part of the Friends Trust Term 1 panel, where we looked through applications and recommended approx. £26k to student groups.
- Was part of the TEF consultation response meeting, where we proposed what we should say in our letter and what are our opinions. I mentioned about not allowing fees to increase for better unis as then it would mean lower socio-economic background students would not be able to attend. I also talked about how they should consider separating the rating as students care about different things when looking at universities, such as student experience, career outcomes, education etc. However, in general we believe it is a good thing as it will keep the university to account.
- During our sabbatical team catch ups over the past 2 weeks we have been very self-reflective of ourselves in our roles as chairs of zones and provided each other with critical feedback to improve and make zones even better going forward.
- We had our Leadership Team meeting where we discussed the UCL200 opening ceremony. We were worried about the price of £5 tickets for students and thus I have had a follow up with the UCL200 to discuss the potential opportunities of getting free tickets for students. I have been reassured that students will be able to email the events team for free tickets and that there will be free tickets as prizes opportunities. I am now working towards a compromise of making 1 showing a night free for students to ensure they feel like this event is for them.
- I have had an initial phone call with an alumni, who set up an app which matches people together based on their hobbies, interests, and cultures at small dinners to encourage them to make friends. It is a potential partnership I will be exploring that will be just for the UCL community, targeting a way for students to get more involved with SU and make more friends . This has been successful with some UCL societies.
- I had a data protection meeting to discuss some key issues that were brought up at risk & audit committee last year. We have been looking at making the website easy to send a mass email to all ticket holders and members in bcc to avoid mistakes, making it more clear when they export files that they need to bcc, we also talked about ensuring groups use Microsoft forms, and more guidance on how to add soc inboxes, including a go to my society's mailbox button. This has started to be put into action with a go to my society mailbox button available in the accounts of presidents and treasurers so they can access their join mailbox quicker.
- I chaired our second SU estates board, where had SU building updates that seem to be going on track to the timeline. We also had updates of how quick the YMCA feasibility timeline is escalating and that the potential of that site being considered seriously by UCL soon. We also approved funding for renovation of small works projects within the Bloomsbury building, like stairs and toilets.
- I was also part of the Term 2 studio allocation committee where we had 9 applications for 6 slots. We therefore had a very hard time choosing which ones would go in the season but we tried to pick the best and the most unique applications.
- I have been having discussions on how we approach the fact that the societies officer did not re-enrol, which went to UE and the vote was taken to remove them and hold an emergency bye-election to get them elected in time for the next zone.
- Following feedback from activities zone and new grant funds opening: UCL200, Grand Challenges, and SoM funds, I have been in conversations about how we can let students know about the different funds and have decided I will run how to apply for grants workshops, which I am currently working on. Based on advise from summit I have also changed the guidance on purchase request form to ensure that it is clear that student groups can use it to purchase for any amount and not just over £350.
- I have been working on how to implement the 'cutting ties with socially harmful banks' policy from the clubs & socs perspective and we will soon have a meeting with the president, myself and the sustainability officers to agree on the banks we will ban societies from being sponsored by.
- I attended the Trustee week breakfast at Canary Wharf along with Darcy to get to talk to other charities and discuss about the importance of having young trustees on boards, something that most charities do not do (excluding Student Unions). We also heard the recent updates from the charities governance codes and the change of integrity to ensure it’s the board integrity and not the individuals.
- Darcy and I spent some time at the School of Management to discuss the potential for that campus, particularly from my side, on how societies can run events there and encourage more cross-campus integration. We also talked about how to promote the grant fund for events to societies and also how we can do SoM SU events, like sports and arts, and have more presence on that campus, such as doing sabb officer stalls.
- I was part of the meeting with UCL investment team to discuss how UCL invests their money, where I challenged some of their investments, such as investing more in renewable energy and not investing in arms company buckets (regardless of what other charities are doing). I also suggested how they can better communicate to students about their divestments and why they invest the way they do, and most importantly, for them to hold workshops with students to gather intel on what students actually want to be investing in.
- Was part of the affiliations panel for Term 1, where we had a lot of new society affiliations, which will soon be announced, growing the number of our societies to over 450.
- Finally, this week has been a big week for my admin, such as approving grants, purchase requests, signing contracts, and most importantly, approving 28-day exemption requests for the term 1 by-elections.

Sarah, Education Officer

What I've been up to!

This is how I've been connecting with students.

We successfully held our first Education Zone this fortnight, and it was great to see so many faculty reps attend and engage! The conversation was incredibly helpful, as we were able to hear viewpoints from across faculties and levels of study on a number of matters, and we also passed a policy on student bursaries!

At the Education Zone, we had a discussion on Personal Academic Tutoring (PAT), where we found that there were prominent issues with PAT across numerous faculties. Following on from this, I worked on publishing some information for students on PAT, so that they are aware of the support they are entitled to, and can reach out if this support is not there.

Many UCL students are feeling the strain on space at the moment, both in terms of teaching space and society activity space. I've been raising this consistently in meetings with UCL staff, and we put out an article so students know we are lobbying UCL on this issue, and to encourage students to provide feedback on space issues they are facing to their faculty representatives.

Eda, your Equity and Inclusion Officer, hosted the launch of the new artwork at the Liberate Gallery in Phineas, and it was very cool to speak to the artists about their work!

I received some Officer Accountability questions from a student, which I promptly responded to.

I've also been communicating directly with relevant students on issues they have raised to me. This includes following up with particular issues raised at the Education Zone, and I reached out to our Sustainability Officers ahead of a meeting on UCL's current investment approach.

I met with some of our PGR faculty reps at a social intro meeting organised by Darcy (your Postgraduate Officer), and it was really interesting to hear their ideas for the year ahead, as well as their current concerns.

Here's more about the meetings I've attended over the past two weeks.

I chaired the first Education Zone, which I'm pleased to say went really well! We had lots of engaging and helpful discussion, including on changes in and influencing Higher Education Policy, Personal Academic Tutoring (PAT), and inductions. We also held a discussion and passes a policy on rebalancing the income thresholds for bursaries (the policy will now go to Union Exec to be ratified).

During Academic Board, I raised the inconsistencies in PAT, and how it needed to be implemented fairly and consistently to support students. Following this, I am in conversation with staff in UCL Senior Education Team to ensure that tutors are reaching out to tutees and ensuring they are supported.

At the UCL Council Meeting and away day, amongst other things, I highlighted the need to take student provision and support as a primary factor in student number planning: UCL cannot continue to expand in numbers without taking into consideration the study and social space, teaching and wellbeing support, and other necessities that need to be in place for students. In a conversation about AI at UCL, I spoke the need for clearer guidelines for students and staff about AI; ensuring assessments are fair and authentic; and about the need for research, development and advocacy of sustainable AI usage.

I reviewed a Changemakers project application, and took part in a panel where Changemakers projects were discussed.

In a meeting with the Vice Provost Faculties, I raised overcrowding issues on campus (highlighting feedback I heard from reps); ways in which faculties and departments should be engaging with their academic reps; and better faculty or department support for departmental societies.

I went to an APPG (All Party Parliamentary Group) for Students at Westminister, which was chaired by Alex Sobel MP, along with Eda (your Equity and Inclusion Officer) and Vanessa (your International Students' Officer). During the panel discussion, I spoke about the need for collective pressure on the government against the proposed increase in tuition fees, and on the need for making the proposed maintenance grants eligible to a wide range of courses. I also spoke to Alex Sobel afterwards regarding students who haven't been evacuated from Gaza, and the need for long-term systems which support students from regions facing conflict, disaster, or genocide.

I went to a meeting with sabbatical officers from SUs across London, regarding a campaign to increase the London weighting for pHD stipends. I hope to share more on this soon!

I attended a meeting with the other sabbatical officers and staff from UCL Finance, on UCL's current investment approach. Amongst the many questions and issues we raised, I asked for clarity around the review of the SRI policy and what student involvement they have, and advocated for more input from students. I also emphasised the need for transparency and clear communications with students regarding current investments, and raised matter of sustainable banking arrangements. I'm going to be working with Anam (your President) to continue following up with UCL staff to represent student concerns.

These are just some of the meetings I've attended!

Anam, President

What I've been up to!

This is how I've been working on assigned policies.

In line with policy UP2414, The Union Should Cut Ties with Environmentally and Socially Harmful Banks, I have been working closely with our Finance Team to review our existing banking relationships and identify more ethical alternatives. This has included consulting external sustainability experts and initiating discussions with potential ethical banking partners. I have been lobbying through correspondence and meetings with UCL and in particular members of the UCL Finance Committee to ensure environmental and social considerations are prioritised in the university’s financial decisions. Alongside this, we are planning on publishing information to help students make informed, ethical banking choices.

On UP2413, The Union Should Commit to Formalising the Implementation of the Sustainability Council and Addressing the Climate Emergency, I have been working with our Governance and Democracy Teams to embed sustainability across the Union’s governance structures. We are strengthening the Sustainability Council’s role and ensuring sustainability principles are integrated into procurement, events, and partnerships. I acknowledge that it has taken a bit longer for us to fully implement this policy, I have taken steps to advance this since the last meeting of Union Executive. I continue to meet regularly with UCL, advocating for sustainability as a standing agenda item and ensuring our climate commitments are reflected in their strategic planning.

In support of UP2409, Use of Amazon Vouchers and Products, I have initiated an audit of current procurement and prize voucher systems to ensure we phase out any remaining use of Amazon vouchers and products. I have been liaising with our Finance Team to explore partnerships with ethical suppliers. Our goal is to transition completely away from Amazon-based incentives and adopt sustainable alternatives as soon as we can and definitely by the end of this academic year.

For UP2406, The Union Should Support the Fossil Free Careers Campaign, I have been working with UCL Careers to promote fossil-free and green job opportunities for students. My meetings with careers staff have focused on ensuring career opportunities at fossil fuel companies are no longer promoted at UCL events. We are also developing workshops on sustainable careers, including sessions in Canary Wharf and central London, to help students engage with environmentally responsible employers. Additionally, I have been working with the UCL Careers Team to expand student job and employability opportunities, particularly for postgraduate students.

Progress has also been made on UP2307, Lobby to End UCL’s Relationship with Arms Companies. I have raised this issue in UCL’s governance and investment meetings, lobbying for greater transparency in UCL’s relationships with arms companies and calling for divestment from unethical sectors. I have also been speaking with members of UCL’s Investment Committee to ensure that ethical considerations are fully built into the Union’s financial framework so that future partnerships reflect UCL’s values as a progressive, responsible institution.

Regarding UP2306, UCL Should Provide Cheap Meals, I have been working with the Commercial Team to ensure affordable food options for students. We have entered discussions with Gather & Gather to lower their price to £2.99. I have been engaging with catering teams in the Union and UCL to ensure more affordable options are available in more outlets so that students can access healthy, low-cost meals across campus. We are also exploring short-term eals to further support students during the cost-of-living crisis.

Here's more about the meetings I've attended over the past two weeks.

In addition to policy work, I have represented the Union across a wide range of UCL committees, including the Investment, Estates, Finance, and Governance Committees. Within these, I have been advocating for ethical investment, sustainability planning, and financial transparency. On the Estates Committee, I have supported proposals for the pedestrianisation of Gordon Square to enhance accessibility and student safety. I have also contributed to discussions through the Joint Academic Board and the UCL 200 Planning Committee, focusing on student inclusion in long-term institutional planning for UCL’s bicentennial celebrations. A key milestone this term is that both Sarah (Education Officer) and I now hold voting rights on our respective committees, strengthening student representation at the highest levels of decision-making.

Improving the student experience has also been a priority, especially for those based at satellite campuses. I have been working closely with the and teams across Canary Wharf and UCL East to ensure students have access to Union services, events, and career opportunities. Alongside Eda, our Equity and Inclusion Officer, we have been actively engaging with the Student Forum for UCL East to address local concerns and improve inclusion. We are also exploring ways to create more student employment opportunities, including within Union operations such as shuttle bus coordination between Stratford and One Pool Street. I have been in touch with academic departments to lobby for more flexible and fair employment pathways, particularly for postgraduate students.

Over the past two months, I have also supported a range of events and initiatives. I co-hosted a successful event with Victor Chu, Chair of Council, welcoming Wilbur Ross for a book signing and discussion that generated meaningful student engagement. I have been supporting the Zero Food Waste collaboration to reduce food waste across Union operations and cafés and overseeing planning for Interfaith Week, which will celebrate inclusion, diversity, and inter-community dialogue. I continue to advocate for increased hardship funding and more sustainable funding streams to support students under financial pressure. Additionally, I have been part of discussions on UCL’s rebranding strategy and AI framework, advocating for accessibility, inclusivity, and strong data protection for students. I have also been pushing for the refurbishment of UCL halls to establish consistent standards of accommodation quality.

Overall, this has been a busy and productive period for the Union. We have made tangible progress in advancing sustainability, ethical investment, and affordability, while continuing to strengthen student employability, postgraduate engagement, and campus inclusion. As we move forward, I remain committed to ensuring our Union leads by example—championing sustainability, fairness, and opportunity for all students.