VP Community & Welfare

1 July 21

Term of Office started

1 Sept 21

I have started the conversation with the Registrar and Pro Vice-Chancellor Student Experience at the university and have been directed to the appropriate person to progress this project.

1 July 21

Term of Office started

1 Sept 21

I organised the first planning meeting to flesh out the timescale of Inter Faith Week and mind map event ideas. I also got in touch with all of the faith societies regarding a collab event and for feedback on the initial Inter Faith Week plan. This event is set to run the week starting 22nd of November

25 Nov 21

It is currently Inter Faith week, get involved, view our website what's on page for more info

17 Mar 22

Due to unforseen circumstances and last minute speaker cancellations, Inter-Faith Week has unfortunately been postponed to semester 2. It is now taking place in the form of an Inter-Faith Café in collaboration with our faith societies on 22nd March. As part of this event, I will be hosting a panel discussion on the interrelation between Faith and Sustainability where panellists will share their reflections on COP26 and how they see their faiths contributing to the transition to a sustainable and equitable world for all.

1 July 21

Term of Office started

1 Sept 21

I requested a list of the academic personal tutors from the university to gauge their interest in becoming Mental Health First Aid trained.

1 July 21

Term of Office started

1 Sept 21

I have set up a time for this campaign and it will run during the second semester after the January exams period

17 Mar 22

Week starting 31st January to 6th February marked UWE Men’s Mental Health Awareness Week and coincided with Relax Week, the first week of the Feel Good Feb programme. Myself, Callum Jones (Men's Welfare Officer) and the Welfare Committee organised a series of wellbeing events that included: 1. An Art & Wellbeing workshop, in collaboration with the Geography & Environment Society, to explore the effects of art in promoting positive mental wellbeing. 2. A Rap Showcase & Spoken Word Open Mic featuring two of the South West’s best spoken word talents to highlight other ways of self-expression, followed by an engaging panel discussion on creativity, brotherhood, vulnerability and men’s mental health. 3. A Nature Walk & Talk to inspire you to notice, think about and appreciate our natural and green surroundings more, therefore deepening your connection with nature to boost your mental wellbeing.

1 July 21

Term of Office started

1 Sept 21

I have attended a tour of Farmhouse and discussed potential locations for the wellbeing café. I am currently formulating a survey to gather information about students preferred local café to bring on campus and what they want the wellbeing café to offer them in terms of welfare support.

17 Mar 22

Following discussion with various individuals from the university, we concluded that Farmhouse might not be the best location for this because it is a listed building and that will limit what the Wellbeing Café can deliver. As for now, I am piloting the idea of having Wellbeing Cafés at UWE by launching pop-up Wellbeing Cafés on all campuses with the Welfare Committee and the Advice Centre team - with the first one taking place on 15th March at Bower, Glenside and Frenchay campuses.

1 July 21

Term of Office started

1 Sept 21

I currently sit on the Speak Up steering group and have been in conversation with them and members of the EDI team on ways to collaborate like a joint Speak Up Campaign. I have also reached out to the new committee of the Speak Up Society to gauge their interest in this.

17 Mar 22

I am currently working on implementing Speak Up training into The Students’ Union training programme for all sports clubs and societies committees. I also have regular meetings with the Speak Up Society to support with its activities, one of which is providing active bystander training for all of its members.

1 July 21

Term of Office started

1 Sept 21

Working with the speak up societyand Speak up steering roup to make this more known

17 Mar 22

I have a meeting scheduled in March with the Deputy Director (Policy Development and Student Experience) Student and Academic Services and UWE Communications team to explore methods of better promoting the Report & Support system, and especially clearly communicating the support package to all students.

1 July 21

Term of Office started

1 Sept 21

I am in conversation with the relevent person from the sustainability team at the university and arranged a meeting to further discuss the environmental benefits of reverse vending machines and how it supplements the university's Climate Action and Sustainability Strategy 2030

17 Mar 22

We have found and approached a company that sustainabily manufactures reverse vending machines. Now, a business case is being developped which will support our funding request from the university for this. The Students' Union Commercial Services Manager, myself and the university's Commercial Services Manager are currently exploring the incentives package that we will introduce as a way of encouraging individuals to use the machines and recycle their plastic bottles and drink cans.

1 July 21

Term of Office started

1 Sept 21

I am in the process of building a partnership with Sustainable Fashion Week UK and discussing the appropriate time to launch the Sustainable Fashion Competition. In the meantime, I am working on launching our first ever sustainable swap shop at the SU during Big Green Week this coming October.

17 Mar 22

The Sustainable Fashion Competition was launched and the winner was going to be announced during Sustainable Fashion Week UK in September 2021 with cash prizes for the top 3 students. We have only had one participant, therefore, the competition was put on hold with potentially re-launching it at a more convenient time of the academic year. In the meantime, the Community team and myself launched the Students' Union first Clothes Swap Shop on Frenchay Campus in October which saw great engagement from students and was an overall success. We have then done another one for Feel Good Feb and are in the process of organising a Book and Clothes Swap Shop for Women's History Month in March. We are also looking at expanding this project to include household items and cover other campuses like Glenside and Bower, and potentially securing a permanent location (with storage space) for our Swap Shop.

1 July 21

Term of Office started

1 Sept 21

I have formulated the committee's year long plan and the terms of reference. I have also selected the members of the welfare committee and conducted our first meeting to introduce the aim and objectives of this group and share ideas to better shape our yearlong plan.

17 Mar 22

The Welfare Committee met regularly on a monthly basis to discuss students’ welfare matters. It is now linked up to the Healthy University Group (HUG), Health & Wellbeing Strategy Group (HWSG) and EDI Committee at the university where I give a verbal update at meetings and raise any welfare concerns from students to university senior leadership. Overview of the recent welfare committee activities: • The work of the Welfare Committee feeds into the SU/UWE Welfare Partnership Project. The Chair (myself) and other members (Trans Welfare Officer, Men’s Welfare Officer and Women’s Welfare Officer) are currently involved in the development of this project's action plan and attend the Task & Finish Group meetings. • During January’s meeting, the members reviewed the Students' Union Safer Spaces Policy and proposed amendments where appropriate. • All members are undertaking Mental Health First Aid Training in from 14th to 25th March to enable them to better support and signpost students effectively to welfare services in the university or outside (e.g. mental health charities). • The committee run 3 successful Art & Wellbeing workshops so far with each one having a specific theme. • The committee is supporting me in launching the pop-up Wellbeing Cafés at Frenchay, Glenside and Bower in March. There is now a Welfare Committee webpage on The Students’ Union website introducing all of the committee members.