Mo Ebengho (They/Them)
Intention
To ensure students, especially those in financial need, are fully aware of available hardship funds, eligibility criteria, and free or low-cost UWE services to support their wellbeing and university experience without financial strain.
Interventions
Part A (Hardship Funds):
Develop and execute a targeted social media and marketing campaign timed with key fund-allocation rounds to demystify the application process and criteria.
Active participation in the hardship fund decision-making committee to monitor accessibility and fund take up.
Part B (Service Awareness Videos):
Collaborate with the SU marketing team to film a video series highlighting free and low-cost university services prior to Freshers' Fair, followed up with clear guidance on where to find these services during Welcome Week and throughout the academic year.
Part C (Ask the President):
What I am working on, want to hear from you and build connection to student voice on core issues. Link to representation first approach, use this as a platform to link to other objectives.
To amplify the voices of trans, non-binary, international, disabled, neurodivergent, and marginalised students across the academic and student experience, pushing for essential platform fixes, inclusive policy and institutional accessibility.
Pronouns & Systems: Direct advocacy with systems leads (EDI team, Esther Williams, Catherine Parker, Sarah Garlick) to resolve digital barriers, simplify name and pronoun change processes across UWE systems.
Disabled Students & the Disabled Student Commitment (DSC): Act as the lead Sabbatical Officer for UWE’s DSC, collaborating with the UWE Project Manager to scrutinise service delivery, embed a disabled and neurodivergent lens into academic governance (e.g. Academic Board, Board of Governors), and support the November 20th Listening Exercise by elevating lived-experience case studies.
EHRC & Supporting Trans Students: Work alongside the Vice-Chancellor on implementing EHRC guidance to foster a safe, respectful environment on campus, while embedding an intersectional lens into key liberation campaigns such as Black History Month and Diversity Week. Promote/evaluate the Gender Expression Fund for maximum reach.
Supporting the Exec Committee to Thrive: Strengthen representation structures by chairing the Executive Committee, implementing the 2025/26 Democratic Review, connecting Full-Time Officers with Part-Time Officers, and driving EDI student voice initiatives and consultation panels to ensure future SU positions reflect the full diversity of students. Working across the region where needed to amplify liberation campaigns.
Looking at good practice across the sector on approaches nationally and international of different and innovative approached: what can we learn and what are we inspired by?
To equip students with practical career skills and network opportunities early in their university journey, not just in their final year, by translating academic theory, committee roles, and extracurricular experiences into tangible graduate employment prospects.
Partner with the VP Societies & Communication, VP Sport & Health, and UWE Careers Service to help committee members articulate and evidence their leadership skills for future employers.
Next Steps for Societies and Sports
2nd conference for sports and societies
What does the session look like Bucs add-victor and UWE Careers
Who can be brought in to inspire students– Alumni
Review the approach in other SU/Universities – what does great look like around the sector and could reflect on to take forward.
Shape the UWE Careers Fair as a core stakeholder, by placing student voice at the centre of the planning committee to boost attendance and secure diverse employer participation.
TEDx/UWE Talks: Student Leadership, Innovation and Employability:
Explore the feasibility of establishing a TEDxUWE event, or alternatively a UWE Talks programme, that provides students with a platform to share ideas, research, lived experiences, entrepreneurial projects, and social impact initiatives.
Collaborate with the UWE Careers Service, academic faculties, alumni network, and Students' Union societies to identify and support diverse student speakers from all backgrounds.
Deliver speaker development workshops focused on public speaking, storytelling, confidence building, presentation skills, and personal branding, ensuring students gain transferable employability skills throughout the process.
Invite alumni, employers, social entrepreneurs, community leaders, and industry professionals to participate as speakers and panel members, creating opportunities for networking and mentoring.
Prioritise representation from marginalised and underrepresented student groups to showcase diverse voices, challenge barriers to success, and inspire future student leaders.
Record and publish talks online to create a lasting digital portfolio for speakers while promoting UWE as a university that values student innovation, creativity, and leadership.
Explore opportunities to link participation to the UWE Futures Award, employability frameworks, and leadership development programmes.
Use the programme to help students translate academic knowledge, committee experience, volunteering, activism, entrepreneurship, and lived experience into compelling professional narratives that can support graduate employment and further study applications.
Use Governor and Academic Board positions to review annual graduate employment statistics and lobby for embedded, course-based career provision.
Work with the “Equity Team” to embed a strong career focus for first-year marginalised students, helping them grow networks early and to consider their long term job prospects.
To completely re-scope and overhaul UWE’s Report + Support mechanism (addressing fundamental flaws in categorisation, thresholds, communication and trust) to deliver a transparent and effective reporting system that meets students’ needs.
Compile a comprehensive evidence document outlining current system failures (e.g. forced rigid categorisations, lack of wellbeing follow-ups, threshold rejections, and anonymous reporting limitations).
Present findings to the Vice-Chancellor to secure approval for either re-scoping the current system or commissioning a brand-new platform build (potentially exploring AI-assisted initial intake to remove forced student categorisation).
Build student voice testing mechanisms directly into the design process alongside the Student Consultation Panel to rigorously test the system before launch.
Conduct sector bench-marking against other UK universities to adopt best practice and eliminate reporting barriers: how do they use their R+S platform and is it more successful in other places and why?
Email: supresident@uwe.ac.uk Instagram: @thesuatuwe_president Facebook: /PresidentatUWE