Candidates for Welfare & Equality Officer

Anirban Debnath (he/him) Azra Anver (she/her) Lucy Leeds (she/her)

Hi, I’m Anirban, and I’m running to be your next welfare and equality officer. I am a final year Archaeology student, a project lead for N.E.S.T and course representative for PGT Archaeology. As your welfare and equality officer I will prioritise…

1. Promoting mental health support by pushing the university to provide resources for professional counselling services accessible to all, out of hour support, organising support groups, and campaigns to spread awareness and reduce stigma surrounding mental health. I will also strive for increased support for students with disabilities and ensure support is tailored to the needs of individuals.

2. Ensuring that underrepresented groups are given a voice and platform to share their perspectives by continuing lobbying the university to decolonize the curriculum to promote diversity and inclusivity. I will also push for increased financial support for the students during this cost of living crisis.

3. Fostering positive relations with the wider community by organising events to encourage students to volunteer with those in need. I will also advocate for making our campus greener by organising community sustainability projects and cleanups.

Hi, my name is Azra, and I am a final-year law student. I’m running to be your next Welfare & Equality Officer because I want to be a voice for students. My aim is to make sure that students feel represented during their time at university and comfortable enough to seek help during challenging moments. If elected I would particularly focus on the following:

Mental Health

• Advocating for more significant investments in mental health services for students particularly during and in the build-up to exam periods

• Ensuring that students find it easy to access the different services available to them

• Planning more activities for students to de-stress

Sexual Health and Drugs & Alcohol

• Providing more readily available sanitary towels and tampons on campus

• Giving better access to condoms

• Establishing safe spaces for students to discuss any drug/ alcohol-related issues they may face

Equality and Awareness

• Introducing a monthly welfare email reminding students of the services available to them

• Ensuring that all teaching staff and society committee members receive appropriate welfare training.

Hi everyone! My name is Lucy Leeds and I am a third-year geography student running to be your next Welfare and Equality Officer! My goal is to make Newcastle University a community which empowers marginalised students and makes student welfare a main priority. I believe my background in social justice as the president of the feminist society, and previous Welfare Officer, allows me to champion student voice, with the understanding and pragmatism needed to work within a large institution that represents many voices and interests. I would use the position of Welfare and Equality Officer to collaborate with the university to expand on my work as the president of a society that campaigns for contemporary social issues.

Thus, my campaign prioritises, The 3 – Cs:

Clarity: I want to further support victims of sexual violence by making the incident reporting process more accessible, clearer and fairer.

Cost of Living: Lobby the University about the acute impact of the cost-of-living crisis on students and minority student groups, expanding the current campaign into the next academic year Community: Listening to the voices of marginalised communities within the student body is my priority and I will collaborate with liberation officers and underrepresented societies.

Hello everyone I'm Pooja doing my masters in Environmental Engineering. I am Nominating myself for welfare and Equality officer role. I don’t know how to give a perfect manifesto so I am sharing my personal experience which motivated me to nominate for this role. I was so excited to start a new phase in my life , moving to new city and starting a new course and being independent of course. But then reality hit in , it was so difficult for me to handle my studies , physical health , mental health , finances etc. I was facing lots of struggles and loneliness made it much more bitter. When I was craving for some help , the support and advice hub came to my rescue. I will not say it sorted out all my issues but it gave me some confidence to face my issues. I want to bring in this confidence to thousand more unknown Pooja. I wanted to be that real change that helps someone to move forward towards their goal. I want to be a part of this change. Vote for me make this progress , Thank you.

I am Pratishtha Verma, a digital business (e-marketing) master's student running for Welfare & Equality Officer.

As a Welfare & Equality Officer, my goal will be to create an inclusive and supportive environment for all students. For that, I plan to enhance access to resources and support services that promote mental and physical health and well-being. This includes working with counselling and health services to provide care to all students and promoting awareness of mental health issues and decreasing stigmas.

I will also promote diversity, address discrimination and harassment, and ensure equal opportunities and resources for all students regardless of background or identity to eliminate campus inequality and discrimination.

I will also work with the university administration to provide safe space for students, especially marginalised communities, by establishing policies and processes that make all students feel respected and aggressively promoting campus inclusivity and acceptance.

I will also work with student unions and organisations to identify issues and concerns and collaborate with the university administration to address them. My goal is to establish an inclusive, supportive, and equitable community for students. I will work hard to make this happen, and I look forward to working with everyone in our university community.

Hi! This is Tanvi Sharma, nominating myself to be your dutiful Welfare and Equality Officer. With experience of 3 years working in different organization with human development as focus, I look forward to work for you.

I’ll try to be your good friend who is there to listen to your concern and queries so, don’t be shy to come and have chat with me. Also, according to me (and my friends) apparently am a good human who makes friends no matter from where or which course you belong to.

Voting for me will basically:

• increase your chances to enhance your mental health and nutrition.

• Provide you with easy techniques to plan your assignment and schedule your worktime table.

• Try making video content about new things happening in University/Union or regarding conveying important information along with written mails.

• Put up an anonymous box in the University where students could put up their concerns regarding any officers and their work that they could work towards helping you.

• Events to support people over the world who are underprivileged.

• Eye Test and Dental Check-ups which haven’t really been done in the university as much as other check-ups.