Chair: Amy Sugden
Why did you decide to run for your position?
I decided to run for the Chair, I thought it’d be nice to do something for the college, and try to make a change for everyone ‘cause I know when I was studying my under-grad here, I found it quite difficult to get in contact with the president of my college so I thought I would like to do that and make it easier for the other postgraduate students [to get in touch].
How do you think your time as an undergraduate here has informed what you planned to do now as a postgraduate rep?
I think it has given me a good opportunity to learn what the college system does, so I know how the communities act together to try and… not only just as a college but as a whole union as well so I think it’s… and I know the whole area as well and quite a lot of the faculties so it’s good for contacts.
What do you plan to do now you have the role?
I plan to do a lot more academic support for the post-graduates and more events trying to bring everyone together and cultural events so that people can learn about each other since it’s a big diverse group of people in the postgraduate college.
How do you hope to work with LUSU? Do you look forward to that?
I am looking forward to working with LUSU. I think they are a big part of whatever you do as they do help with everything that we do, so it would be good to work with them.
PGR Rep: Lucy Ryan
Why did you decide to go for the position?
I’ve been involved with the postgraduate board before, and it’s the former guys, it’s the (GS?), which is about ten years ago. I’ve also been kind of involved in student representation. I’m particularly interested in postgrad issues and kind of the diversity of the postgrad issues, and the fact that as a university we are very undergraduate-centric, and I would like to work to kind of create more knowledge around what post- grad issues are, and how they are [different] from undergrad issues.
What are the particular distinctions that you think are the most important?
There are loads and loads. We are on a completely different sort of timetable to undergraduates and sometimes the fact that everything is geared up to the undergrad timetables can cause problems with the post-grad timetable… Various postgrad activities don’t really fit with the undergrad timetable.
So in terms of meeting changes, is there anything you hope to do within the next sort of six months?
I’m helping with [PGR Rep] Scott and [PGT Rep] Kat with the academic portfolio. I’d like to create more awareness of what postgrad issues are. Better representation, a bit of focus on the boards [for people to] know who we are, and how to get involved with the things we do.
PGR Rep: Mohammed Cheded
Why did you decide to run for the position?
I decided to run for the position to represent the research community within the Management School at Lancaster University. I decided to also get involved with the Graduate college… I just want to really expand my experiences and want to get busier.
So having been here for year already, how do you think that will inform your decision making within this role?
Well, last year, I’ve seen boards that are working really well and I’ve seen how the Graduate College has a really great community. Graduate College has a vibrant international community, and I think I will make use of my experience to maintain this diversity and improve students’ experience.
Do you see diversity as a challenge in terms of organising events, etc.?
It could be, but at the same time, it’s the exciting part of it.
Do you have any events coming up?
I’ve got some really great events coming but I really can’t tell you that but I tell you there are some really, really great stuff coming in.
PGT Rep: Kat Fraczkowska
Why did you decide to run for this position?
Just to get involved with the college and don’t know, get more students involved as well, off and on-campus, that way it’s clear.
how do you hope to go about getting people more involved?
Advertising more. I don’t think the postgraduate website is very well advertised, even the Facebook page. And focus more on what we have on the Postgraduate Forum because when we [were choosing] the reps, there was hardly anyone there.
What do you think the reasons are for people not getting involved?
People…..[are just] not aware of it, so maybe just grab their attention.
What do you consider about the diversity of the post-graduate students? Do you think that’s a challenge to overcome in terms of getting people involved?
It is, because we do have a lot of people with different backgrounds.
PGT Rep: Lauren Godfrey
Why did you decide to run for the position?
I’ve been at the university for three years already. I did my undergrad here and I’m on a funding scheme, so I’m doing my masters and my PhD as well, I’m here for another four years. So I thought that joining the board would be a really good way to meet new people, give people the opportunities that I’ve had at the university before. And be quite consistent with the board as well, so that I can help the board in the future.
How have you found your time here at Lancaster? How do you feel about staying for another four years?
I’m quite looking forward to it. There’s a reason I stayed: I like it.
What do you hope to do as a PGT Rep?
I’m focusing quite a lot on the budget. We’re organising a Christmas ball at the moment which should be really exciting, that’s going to be in Week 9 or 10… Then just loads of events, helping people with academic stuff.
There seems to have been some problems getting postgraduates engaged in with the university. Do you think the Christmas Ball will be well attended?
Yeah, we really hope so. I think we’re going to have it quite local to Lancaster so it’s not too far for everyone to go, and hopefully it’ll be a really good night.
PGR Rep: Laura Grace
Why did you run for the position?
I ran for it halfway through last year, so I’ve got experience from the year before. We were kind of developing last year, so I’ve learnt from what we did then, and I know how to push it forward and make it even better.
Is there anything in particular that you’ve learnt last year that you can put into practice this year?
Just really how to engage with students better, and also how to run events better. We’ve worked out our demographic a lot better and we’ve had feedback from families and mature students, and we’re getting to know what events suit them and what times suit them.
How do you find the diversity of Graduate College? How does that factor into decision-making?
It’s quite tough to organise an event that’ll suit everyone, so we’ve tried doing a range of events like some evening ones. The summer festival went down really well, because people could bring their children along but still have a drink and listen to music, so that went down really well. I think we put a picnic on as well that was more just for kids and their parents.
Are there any big events in particular that are coming up?
We’re planning a Christmas ball, hopefully for December. Last year we had the summer festival and the leaver’s ball which was in May, so we’re hoping to do those again. And then I’m not too sure in between that.
Graduate College Residence Officer: Felix Ebner
Why did you decide to run for the position?
“I’ve lived on campus for the last two years… because I did my undergrad [at Lancaster]… I’ve always wanted to be part of the administration to help people in need on campus have a better life on campus and feel at home.”
How do you think your time already at Lancaster will inform your decisions as Residence Officer?
I’ve been in County College for two years in a row, and I have seen a lot of things that have been improved over the time, things that needed to be changed, and I think from my personal experience I had in County College and from my friends in other colleges, I can put some information into use in Graduate College.
What do you think of the diversity in Graduate College? Do you think it might be quite difficult to be the Residence Officer?
We are one of the colleges with the biggest diversity. I don’t see it as difficult, I see it as a challenge, which makes my job quite interesting because you need to think out of the box. Because you can’t just take a European perspective, you need to think of an Asian view, an Indian view, and need to implement those thoughts and ideas and lifestyles as well, so it’s quite interesting to do that job.
Are there any changes that you particularly want to bring into the role?
There are no changes in progress at the moment, because we’ve only been in place for [a few] weeks, so we’re still finding ourselves. However, I’ve focused on living standards, so that the things people need to do after they arrived is minimised; some kind of basic protocol for the college to check the rooms, as well as to improve the mail system to make it easier for people who are not used to the English mail system to get used to it.
PGT Representative: Yash Modhave
Why did you decide to run for the position?
I’m from India so I wanted to get along with people, and I wanted to work on something that would help me, I suppose, to improve my personality and to go out with people and help them. Being on the PGT board you get to organise many events. You get to represent the entire college. It helps you as a person and it helps you to grow, so that’s one of the reasons I chose to work as a PGT Board member.
Are there any events coming up which you hope to sort out?
There is a Christmas ball coming soon. As of now we are looking for the dates, and once the dates are finalised so we can just go with the flow.
Over the last couple of weeks have you seen any challenges because of the diversity of the college?
There are challenges because Masters students only come for one year, and one year is very small. In that one year we have to organise many things and make them understand that we still have less time… As a postgraduate board we should have as many events possible for them, so that everyone can get together.
