Duties

We are looking for two Student Partners to help shape and improve the experiences of disabled students at UWE Bristol. This is a new and exciting opportunity to influence positive change across the University while developing valuable skills and gaining paid experience in a role designed to fit flexibly around your studies.

As a Student Partner, you will play an active role in the University's Disabled Student Commitment (DSC), ensuring student voices are at the heart of decision-making. Working alongside staff and students, you will gather insights, identify barriers, highlight good practice, and contribute to positive change across the University.

This is an exciting opportunity to develop skills in communication, engagement, partnership working, facilitation, and project work. We particularly welcome applications from students with lived experience of disability, neurodivergence, long-term health conditions, or mental health conditions. We also welcome applications from students who are passionate about disability inclusion and accessibility.

What you'll gain from the role

As a Student Partner, you'll have the opportunity to:

• Make a meaningful contribution to improving the experiences of disabled students at UWE Bristol.
• Develop valuable skills in communication, facilitation, engagement, partnership working, project delivery, leadership and employability.
• Gain experience of working collaboratively with professional staff and senior stakeholders.

Duties and Responsibilities

As a Student Partner, you will:

1. Attend training and development sessions to understand the Disabled Student Commitment, the wider context of disability inclusion in higher education, and your role within the project.
2. Engage with disabled and neurodivergent students, and students with physical or mental health conditions, to gather feedback, experiences and ideas through a range of activities, including conversations, surveys, workshops and focus groups.
3. Encourage involvement in Disabled Student Commitment activities, including the Student Advisory Group.
4. Act as a trusted and approachable student representative, creating opportunities for students to share their experiences in a respectful, supportive, and inclusive environment.
5. Identify and summarise recurring themes, challenges, and examples of good practice, contributing to reports, presentations and updates for the Disabled Student Commitment.
6. Attend and actively contribute to meetings, workshops, and project activities, ensuring that the student perspective is represented and considered in decision-making.
7. Work collaboratively with the other Student Partner and the Project Manager to plan engagement activities, share findings, and contribute to project outputs.
8. Support the development of communications, resources, and engagement materials that encourage participation from a diverse range of students, including student stories, case studies and videos.
9. Support the administration and coordination of engagement activities, meetings and project outputs.
10. Maintain appropriate confidentiality when discussing sensitive experiences or personal information shared by students.
11. Complete agreed tasks and activities within agreed timescales while balancing the role alongside your academic commitments.

This is a casual contract working on average four hours a week. The majority of the work will be completed in your own time, but attendance will be required at training sessions, meetings and workshops. Efforts will be made to organise these around your teaching timetable.

Skills and Experience

Person Specification - Essential Criteria

Knowledge and Experience

1. Current registered student at UWE Bristol.

2. Lived experience, knowledge, or a strong understanding of disability, neurodivergence, long-term health conditions, mental health conditions, or barriers to inclusion in higher education.

Skills and Attributes

1. Strong communication skills, with the ability to engage confidently and respectfully with a wide range of students and staff, both in person and online.
2. Good listening skills and the ability to handle sensitive conversations with empathy, professionalism, and discretion.
3. Ability to work both independently and collaboratively as part of a team.
4. Self-motivated and organised, with the ability to manage responsibilities, meet deadlines, and work flexibly around study commitments.
5.  Ability to reflect diverse student perspectives and represent views fairly, including experiences that may differ from your own.
6. Commitment to equality, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility

Personal Specification - Desirable Criteria

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

1. Experience of gathering feedback from students through surveys, focus groups, workshops, events, or informal conversations.
2. Experience of representing the views of others, for example through student representative roles, volunteering, societies, campaigns, or community involvement.
3. Experience of creating engaging content for different audiences, including written communications, videos, case studies, presentations, social media content, or other engagement materials.
4. Knowledge of the Equality Act 2010, disability inclusion, or accessibility in higher education

Duration

Temporary until April 2027

Hours

Average 4 hours a week within teaching term

Hourly Rate

£13.45 per hour 

Location

Remote with occasional visits to UWE Frenchay campus

Additional Information

We recognise that students may have different access requirements and working preferences.

Support and reasonable adjustments will be available through the job application/selection process and throughout the role.

All those invited to an interview will have the choice to complete it online or in-person, receive the interview questions in advance and can refer to their notes within the interview.

Other examples of adjustments may include:

• Additional information about what to expect from the recruitment process
• Application via Microsoft Word or by submitting a video recording, explaining how you meet the essential and desirable criteria
• Extra time for the interview
• A break within the interview
• An informal conversation with the Project Manager

This role is designed to be flexible and accessible, with most activities arranged around study commitments wherever possible.

Email Katie.Carson@uwe.ac.uk to request any of the adjustments above or a conversation about support offered before noon on Wednesday 26 August.

Application procedure

Apply via Microsoft Forms here: Student Partner - Disabled Student Commitment – Fill in form 

If you have any questions please email Katie.Carson@uwe.ac.uk 

Closing date

The job application closing date is midnight on Monday 31 August

Make sure you mention the JobShop when applying!