The Volunteering Service exists to connect UCL with London’s voluntary and community sector, primarily by engaging students in rewarding volunteering opportunities. We offer a volunteering brokerage, a student-led volunteering programme, co-create research opportunities, organise events and help UCL departments connect their students with course-relevant volunteering opportunities.

We’re comprised of three distinct teams – Partnerships, Student Led Projects and Community Research Initiative for Students; all overseen by our Volunteering Manager.

Partnerships Manager - Oliver Peachey

Oliver manages our Partnerships Team, working closely with UK-based not-for-profits and colleagues across the SU and UCL to provide our students with a wide range of safe and meaningful external volunteering opportunities to consider applying to during their time here. 

All community partnerships and ensuing opportunities through his team are vetted and pre-approved before they get promoted – and Oliver is responsible for ensuring systems are in place and all opportunities are promoted well to ensure the pathways to volunteering are as clear and accessible as they can be. 

Oliver’s team are also responsible for the delivery of the Volunteering Service’s flagship projects – our Social Hackathons programme and Consultancy Challenge initiative – that both engage students in distinct short-term, high-impact volunteering activities each year. 

Csenge Gabeli

Volunteering Partnerships Coordinator - Csenge Gabeli

Csenge is our newest member of staff, joining in June 2022. She is responsible for supporting our internal and external partnerships, with a particular focus on coordinating our marketing and communications activities, coordinating our one-off events programme and arranging our service events with stakeholders both on and off campus.  She also manages our team of Promo Assistants and Photojournalists, and work closely with our Administrative Assistants.

 

Administrative Assistants – Sarah Coren and Laura Stretz

Sarah and Laura are our student staff team who each work two days a week.  They manage follow-up correspondence to students and our partners, moderate opportunities, support our events and administer our records. They also play an active role in sourcing and generating content for our opportunities directories and working with volunteers to tell their stories.  You’ll be in contact with them as you engage with us to enquire about promotion, opportunities and what we offer as a service.

They’re more than happy to advise on all things volunteering, and oversee our main [email protected] account.


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Student-Led Projects Manager – Cynthia Allen

Cynthia joined the Volunteering Service in 2013.  She is responsible for managing and developing the Volunteering Service’s successful programme of student-led volunteering, as well as supporting a caseload of student-led projects.

Anjumon Ali

Student-Led Projects Coordinator – Anjumon Ali

Anjumon joined the Volunteering Service in March 2022.  She is responsible for supporting the development and delivery of the Volunteering Service’s programme of student-led volunteering, as well as supporting a caseload of student projects.

Santiago Torchiaro
Student-Led Projects Administrator – Santiago Torchiaro

Santiago joined the Volunteering Service in October 2020.  He is responsible for supporting the Volunteering Service’s successful programme of student-led volunteering, as well as supporting the wider administrative workload of the team.

Anne Laybourne

CRIS Manager - Anne Laybourne

Anne is responsible for managing the Community Research Initiative for Students (CRIS). A new service since November 2018, CRIS seeks to encourage engaged research between the communities within which UCL sits and its academics. This is done through supporting masters students to collaborate during their dissertations with community partners.

Head of Volunteering

John has been manager of the Volunteering Service since it was set up in 2002. He’s responsible for managing the team and reporting back to Students’ Union UCL and other stakeholders within UCL and the community. He leads on planning, strategy and evaluation and liaises with other UCL departments about potential new areas of work. He also currently leads on planning for the Students’ Union’s activities and services at the new UCL East campus.