Katie Upton.

Candidate for School of Humanities

I aim to create an open dialogue between all members of the school, to provide a space space to talk about any concerns. In order to achieve this, I propose the idea of a coffee morning perhaps on a monthly basis run by myself to connect with students and staff. Coronavirus has highlighted areas of improvement and communicating and coming together is one of them.

Following my experience as course rep this year, I have seen first-hand the demand for more mental health support. This support should be provided at a school-level and course/department reps should be given the opportunity to take part in more extensive mental health training so they can feel comfortable when students come to them with concerns. In many cases students prefer talking to another student about any worries because they feel it’s more relatable.

Over the past few years, Royal Holloway have been striving to become more inclusive and diverse. I would like to introduce an annual diversity review within the School of Humanities, to open discussions about how we can make the school more inclusive. Student’s feedback should be at the heart of everything we do!

Finally, the introduction of a feedback transparency review to inform students of the school's responses to the mid-term feedback forms. Upon conversations with students, many feel as if their feedback goes unnoticed and very little changes are ever put in place – hence why many become demotivated when it comes to filling in the survey forms.