Students as Change Agents Annual Report 2014-15

DEVELOPING

AIM

SHARE

COLLABORATION

THINK

NEW

PROJECT

DEPARTMENT

LEAD

CHANGE RESEARCH SUPPORT

IMPROVING

CARE STUDENTS

SUSTAIN

IMPACT INNOVATE

IDEAS IMPLICATIONS COMMUNITYENGAGE CREATE

2014-15 Annual Report Education Quality and Enhancement

OVERVIEW

2014/15 was another exciting year for Students as Change Agents, with the highest number of projects being run since the scheme started in 2008 (see Figure B). Projects took place within each College (see Figure A), and the most popular topic for projects was Sustainability. This was closely followed by Outreach, then Student-Led Learning, with a large variety of other types of projects also taking place (see Figure C).

Overall, 2014/15 saw a total of 120 Students as Change Agents projects run across the University.

THE TEAM

LIZ DUNNE Head of Student Engagement and Skills

WILL PAGE Student Engagement Officer

MAGDA CASSIDY Student Engagement Assistant

TOM CROSSWELL Student Engagement Assistant

JASMINE RICKETTS Student Engagement Assistant

With thanks to College staff; Emily Barrett, Alice Chalk, Jake Hibberd, Rebecca Holdsworth, James Mitchell, Niobe Shaw, Gemma Stiling, Spike Van Der Vliet-Firth and Stephanie Wheeler.

ABOUT CHANGE AGENTS Students as Change Agents is an ambitious scheme that enables students to take an active role in shaping their experience of university, enhancing their time here at Exeter. In partnership with The Students’ Guild, FXU, The Students’ Guild Students’ Green Unit, and with support from The Annual Fund, Change Agents engages students as innovators and leaders of positive change. All students, regardless of discipline or year of study, are invited to identify and research areas that they want to improve, and put their ideas for solutions into action.

Staff from Exeter had attended a Higher Education Academy (HEA) workshop entitled ‘Students as Agents for Change’, in which both staff and students were invited to share perspectives on aspects of assessment and feedback. It immediately became obvious that the University could take this idea of change agents even further.

With the support of the HEA, Exeter ran a similar session and invited Chairs of Student Staff Liaison Committees, (students who represent their individual subject areas), along with academic and Education Enhancement staff to attend. The session demonstrated just how eager students were to engage with issues. The project has gone through changes and initially struggled to actively engage students in leading change. It was from this point that the project moved towards what we recognise as Students as Change Agents today, and is an exceptional method of including students as active participants in shaping their experience of higher education.

The chance to leave behind a legacy

Enhanced employability

Benefits

Project management and communication skills

The improvement driven by the student

Developed research and problem-solving abilities

 Students should decide on a topic or question that is of

interest, and then take this forward with their College coordinator or Student Staff Liaison Committee, to discuss their idea. The project may relate to discussions already happening in the SSLC, or may come from elsewhere.

Before embarking on a project, project leaders should complete a short application form that advises them to consider what they would like to achieve.

 It is important to remember that the project should aim at improving learning and teaching within the

discipline. Previous students have chosen topics such as assessment and feedback, seminar experiences, podcasts and employability; past projects can be a good source of ideas, the details of which can be found in the archive on the Students as Change Agents website (http://as.exeter.ac.uk/eqe/projects/change/).

“The idea of Students as Change Agents is really exciting. It genuinely is a great way for students and staff to work in true partnership to make learning better for all students. This is top of the University’s agenda for learning.”

Professor Janice Kay, Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor, University of Exeter “The proactivity of Exeter students in shaping and contributing to their academic experience is a true pleasure to support. Students as Change Agents puts students right at the heart of their study experience, whilst giving them the project management skills rarely developed prior to entering their careers… Students at Exeter are worldclass in identifying and carving out their own opportunities.”

Spike Van Der Vliet-Firth, College of Humanities Student Engagement Assistant, University of Exeter “I’ve co-ordinated the Students as Change Agents projects in my discipline for several years now, and we have had some good projects. This past year, however, has been the best yet, with two of our projects linked to student well-being and transition showcasing at both the Aspire Teaching Day in May, and the Senior Tutor Forum in June. We’ve had super-engaged students leading on these projects, but without a doubt the ongoing input from Will Page (Student Engagement Officer) and Becky Holdsworth (College of Life and Environmental Sciences Student Engagement GBP) has helped make our projects even more successful.”

Dr Louise Pendry, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of Exeter

THE EDUCATION STRATEGY The Education Strategy is a framework at the University of Exeter that supports our efforts to grow as an ambitious, international, strongly inter-disciplinary university with research at its core. By defining our plans for future excellence, the strategy ensures that we continue to provide education of the highest quality, inspired by world-leading research, on our three campuses, and with partners across the world. At the heart of the strategy is a supportive partnership between staff and students, which is brought to life through schemes such as Students as Change Agents. The strategy’s values share many of the same principles with Change Agents, most notably the values of community, collaboration, challenge and impact.

AIMS The Students as Change Agents scheme contributes to and supports the six key strategic aims, which demonstrate the wide variety of excellent teaching and scholarship taking place at the University. These include:

ATTRIBUTES To enable our graduates to lead positive change, both within the University and in the wider community, our students develop a range of attributes to put into practice during their time in higher education and beyond. All our students are inspired by intellectual challenge to acquire expertise within and beyond their chosen academic field, accumulating the attributes both in their studies and through extra-curricular activities. One of the most valuable opportunities to support students in developing these attributes is Change Agents. Students develop a multitude of skills through the scheme, requiring them to think creatively, work effectively in teams, solve problems, lead others, overcome challenges and obstacles, and raise awareness of global issues.

‘The ability to think critically, analyse and challenge, is the essence of what makes Exeter students valuable citizens, attractive graduate employees and investable entrepreneurs.’

‘Exeter graduates will possess the creativity and drive to inspire change, with an ability to work collaboratively with the widest range of people, whatever their chosen profession.’

‘All Exeter students will graduate with experience of leading and effecting change, empowering them to make a responsible and sustainable difference as a future leader, whatever the context.’

‘Exeter graduates will be equipped to be effective and influential in any context, with the integrity, attitude, mental resourcefulness and knowledge to succeed, regardless of personal circumstance.’

‘Our graduates will leave Exeter with a commitment to actively engage in society, an awareness of sustainability issues, an understanding of the cultures and views of others in the world, and a desire to further the common good.’

Find the Education Strategy website here: www.exeter.ac.uk/educationstrategy

THE BUSINESS SCHOOL

In total, four Students as Change Agents projects took place in the Business School this academic year. The student-led initiatives were assisted by Quality Assurance and Enhancement Officer, Gemma Stiling. The projects involved Peer Support, support for international students, the International Week event and the continuation of SEE Talks (The Series for Economic Exploration).

Charlie Evans, a second year Economics and Politics student, set out to form an Economics Peer Support scheme to assist those who were struggling with certain aspects of their course. The sessions would involve student mentors from the Business School bolstering their peers’ knowledge with their own. Charlie and a group of student volunteers attended a session on Peer-Assisted Learning in order to develop the skills necessary to assist their fellow students.

Initially, due to a lack of peer leaders for the project, the scheme struggled to get off the ground. However, Charlie adapted to the situation and gave a new lease of life to the project. He set up The Exeter Economics Forum; a Facebook group available for economics students to join and discuss difficult subject areas (https:// www.facebook.com/groups/1414326798869741/?fref=ts). Any one of the members can comment on the post; giving helpful information that benefits not only the original poster, but anyone else who wanted to ask the same question. The online platform allows for a greater scope of assistance compared to physical meetings, and is an accessible way for Economics students to interact with one another whilst broadening their knowledge of the subject.

Final Year Business and Management students, Meimei Wang and Yuki Fukuda, have run a Students as Change Agents project to improve the lifestyle of international students at the University of Exeter. This ongoing project began by surveying students with a focus on how they were adjusting to life at Exeter, specifically, whether they felt comfortable. Did they find it easy to get help when needed? If they had difficulties, in what area were they struggling?

A questionnaire demonstrated that although 87.5% felt they were getting used to university life, 82.5% also felt that the University’s education system is different from their home countries. This may explain why, out of the difficulties the survey presents, the most common problem was assignments. There was also evidence of student stress, job-related fears and homesickness.

To address this, Meimei and Yuki aimed to produce an informative poster that would encourage positive thinking amongst international students. The poster includes the benefits of positive thinking, simple steps to a happier outlook on life, as well as contact details for the Student Health Centre, the NHS, RD&E hospital and Exeter City Council. The two also hope to create a dedicated ELE page; this would contain a bulletin including extra information for international students, an ‘International Student Information Day’ that would introduce British culture, and language support. Finally, there would be a section devoted to UK media culture; such as TV series, movies, music, and slang.

This project will continue into the 2015/16 academic year.

James Griffiths, a fourth year Business Economics student, has led the first ever International Week (IW) hosted by a UK university, which ran from March 23rd to 29th 2015. The International Week initiative allows students from various universities to host students from other participating universities; exchanging ideas, information and culture. The crux of the scheme is that it is reciprocal; the events of the week are free for visiting students, with each university’s students participating in other International Weeks throughout the year at the other universities.

The International Week Coordinating Organization (IWCO), which established this initiative, is made up of a network of student unions and organisations that ‘promote cultural, economic, social and business exchanges between students from all over the world’.

During his Study Abroad period at Uppsala University, James was given the opportunity to participate in an International Week via their student organisation. After thoroughly enjoying his experience, James returned to the UK with the aim of setting up an IW Organisation at the University of Exeter. Throughout the summer of 2014, James engaged with the IWCO, the Business School and the Students’ Guild to gain the support to establish the scheme at the beginning of September.

A committee was set up, comprising 24 students, mainly from the Business School in various stages of their degree, who all shared a passion for internationalism and providing the best IW experience possible. The committee was formed of three teams. Firstly, the Events team, headed by Yaz Millican; responsible for co-ordinating the cultural and social elements of the week. Secondly, the Corporate Relations team; responsible for communicating with various organisations to organise a company visit, a vital part of International Week, with Konstantin Delov using connections he made through the Entrepreneur Society to assist with this. Finally, the Marketing team, including Katinka Brurberg, Jennifer Caust, Amelia Hosea and Annie Popova; responsible for promoting the week, not only at a campus level, but also on a national level. Involvement in any of these teams allowed participating students to gain valuable experience in sectors they may wish to progress into, within their future careers.

After nearly two terms of preparation, 16 international students were welcomed to Exeter for the inaugural IW. The students came from a large variety of countries including: Vietnam, Japan, Finland, Sweden, Spain, Ukraine, Israel, Poland, Croatia Bulgaria and Belgium. The week’s activities were diverse and served as the cultural elements of the week: a Devonshire Cream Tea baking workshop, a visit to the underground passages, fish and chips, a visit to Exmouth, and an overnight stay in a cottage in Dartmoor National park. A trip to the Met Office and a talk by a local entrepreneur fulfilled the professional requirements of the visit, but there were also fun-filled activities offered including an evening meal at The Old Firehouse, an Exeter City Football Club match, and a historical treasure hunt around the city.

Exeter’s Study Abroad students have already felt the impact of the introduction of the University of Exeter’s International Week, with two students participating in IWs in Lund, Sweden and Amsterdam and Rotterdam in the Netherlands over the Easter break.

Speaking at the end of the week, James Griffiths said, “I’m absolutely delighted at how this project has progressed from an idea, into something that we as a team can be very proud of. I think International Week was always going to be a great match with the welcoming student spirit we’re fortunate enough to have here at the University of Exeter, and everyone involved has been determined to make this week as special as we can for our visiting students.”

For more information on The International Week Coordinating Organisation please visit their website: http://www.iw-co.org/ There is also a Facebook page for International Week Exeter showcasing pictures from the week: https:// www.facebook.com/IWUofE

The SEE talks project, or The Series for Economic Exploration, has now been running for two years; since the original concept was first established, the project has gone from strength-to-strength. The series aims to generate interest in macroeconomics amongst students, by inviting industry leaders to talk, with the aim to inform and inspire topical and sometimes controversial debate. The original number of students reached last year was approximately 1000. Following on from the success of this project, more students have accessed recordings of the talks, bringing that number up to approximately 1500. This year, the number of students who have engaged with the project has continued to rise and currently stands at approximately 7000 attending the live talks and watching the recordings. The accessibility of this project has enabled more students to view the talks than originally thought possible.

Recordings of the talks have been posted on Facebook and YouTube by XTV, preserving them as well as ensuring that they can be viewed by anyone, anywhere. The talks were also streamed live by XTV, further encouraging student participation. Imogen Lawlor, the third year Economics student who started this project, reflected on its success: “Over the past two years, we are very happy to have reached such high attendances/viewings, [with] one speech needing two overflow rooms and 250 watching the live streaming elsewhere… 5000 catching up later.”

This project continues to grow, and Imogen aims to consolidate this through a merger of the project with the Undergraduate Journal; the non-profit, interdisciplinary publication that aims to ‘stimulate, recognise, and reward undergraduate academic talent, and to provide a platform for undergraduates to exchange ideas’. The merger will provide SEE Talks with a dedicated specialist team, a Head of Talks and an assigned budget. All told, there have been 17 volunteers from the Undergraduate Journal, four volunteers of SEE and the XTV team, and the time spent on this project is now around 400 hours. The merger has been described as ‘natural’ by Imogen, as both parties had shared contacts and experiences prior to the decision. Imogen is currently overseeing recruitment of the new Head of Talks, to make sure that the ethos and aims that made SEE Talks such a success continues, ensuring the longevity of SEE Talks.

So far, there have been two talks this academic year. The first was given on October 21st by Dr. Yaron Brook entitled ‘The Morality of Capitalism’. The second, on November 27th by Ben Dyson: ‘Change Money: Change the World!’ The talks are supported by the Business School, Students as Change Agents, the Career Zone, and the Students’ Guild, and receives funding from the Annual Fund.

THE COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, MATHS AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES

In total, nine Students as Change Agents projects were run in the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences. Student Experience and Employability Officer, Jake Hibberd, provided students with support throughout the planning, creation and implementation stages of their projects. The topics covered a range of innovative ideas, from the value of research and presenting it on wider platforms, to Module Fairs, and to Peer Support.

Natalie Whitehead, a fourth year Physics student, and a committee of six students from across the College, are spearheading a Change Agents project focused on disseminating CEMPs information through the digital medium of YouTube. The project is being funded by the Student Partnership Board and will share a variety of videos produced by students across the College.

It is hoped that the project will foster a greater sense of community throughout CEMPS and, as the project is more student-driven in comparison to the University of Exeter YouTube Channel, the videos aim to be more informal and accessible. The funding will allow the team to maintain a strong presence on YouTube, and they aim to produce up to 50 videos a year, lasting for three years.

The project offers a range of benefits to the students involved; whilst there is a financial incentive (ÂŁ10 per interview, ÂŁ40 per edited interview), students will also gain a range of skills that they may not have normally acquired during their degree, such as communication, creativity, camera skills and decision-making. The Channel will engage people across the College, through a dedicated ELE page where students and staff can volunteer video ideas, and offer to interview. Students are already getting involved, and the ELE page encourages discussion and contribution: http:// vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=4864

Third year Electronic Engineering student Harry Liu felt that students were often asked to select their next year modules without sufficient information. This led to many students opting to change their module selection within the first term. Not only was this a nuisance for students, but it also gave administrators a higher workload than was necessary. To combat this, Harry decided to set up an Engineering module fair that would allow students to get more of a feel for the choices they were being offered. The event featured academics from CEMPS to assist the students in their understanding of what their choices would actually entail. Harry assisted with the organisation, alongside Dr Gavin Tabor and Dr Matthew Baker.

The project took around 20 hours to organise and around 40 students attended on the day. 36 feedback cards were completed and returned, with the respondents awarding an average of 3.8 out of a possible 5 points. The feedback highlighted that the presence of more academics would have been of benefit. This has provided the College with a strong basis to continue such events, with advice on how to improve in the future.

Posy Curless, a first year Engineering student, ran a Change Agents project aimed at giving her peers more confidence when faced with a daunting decision: choosing an engineering ‘stream’. Towards the end of their first year, many students wishing to specialise in a certain area of engineering (civil, mechanical, electronic, materials, management or general) have to commit to that ‘stream’, which will affect their choice of modules for the rest of their studies. Posy was not clear on what ‘stream’ she wanted to go into, and she felt that there was a lack of information available to students who had to make this important choice. Speaking about the experience, she said “I had no idea which ‘stream’ of Engineering I wanted to go into, and I was nervous about how it would affect my future. I spoke to a lot of my peers and, while some were entirely certain, a large amount weren't really sure either.

Most people didn't know that we had to decide at the end of February!”

In an effort to allow her peers to make better-informed decisions, Posy set up an ‘Engineering Stream Fair’, which saw students interacting with academics, other students and employers to help them understand the significance of the choice they were making; what their stream would involve academically and the career opportunities that each present. Overall, 25 hours were spent on the event and 50 students attended. Of the students and staff who attended, all agreed the event was useful, and the staff leads for each sub-discipline support the event continuing each year. It is hoped that, in the future, there will be less course changes and students will have submitted their decisions in the days following the event, saving staff time and bolstering students’ confidence in their choices.

In the run up to the Students’ Guild’s ‘Research Uncovered’ event, in which lecturers from across the University are invited to share their latest research with a wide audience, two engineering students ran a Change Agents project aimed at generating student interest with their lecturers’ research. Fourth year Engineering students Jess Fordom and Josh Mullins set up ‘Inside Engineering’, with the assistance of the College’s Student Experience and Employability Officer Jake Hibberd, and Professor Stephen Eichhorn (Professor of Materials Science and Head of Engineering).

The research taster was attended by around 60 students and saw three of the CEMPS presenting lecturers into the final vote for Research Uncovered. In total, three lecturers from CEMPS presented at Research Uncovered (Dr Gihan Marasingha, Dr Eros Mariani and Dr Sharon Strawbridge), demonstrating how these sessions prior to the event influenced CEMPS students to vote for their lecturers.

Across CEMPS, there has been a drive to increase student engagement with lecturer research. Due to this, several Students as Change Agents projects have focused on allowing students to experience cutting-edge research first-hand at ‘Inside…’ events.

With the assistance of Jake Hibberd and Professor Mark Baldwin, second year Maths students Roy Osborne and Fred Panse organised ‘Inside Maths and Computer Science’, where several of the College’s lecturers presented their research. The event was attended by around 30 students and took six hours to organise. The taster-style event led to an increase in student interest, and saw two of the featured lecturers in the final CEMPS vote for Research Uncovered, (an event run by the Students’ Guild that presents research from various lecturers from across the University on a wider platform than lectures allow). One of these lecturers, Dr. Gihan Marasingha, received the largest proportion of the votes for this event and headlined Research Uncovered on March 16th 2015.

Subsequent effects were also seen within the College; the ‘Journal of Undergraduate Science and Technology’ has seen an increase in interest, as well as Maths and Computer Science students publishing their work and acting as peer reviewers.

‘Inside Physics’ is a Students as Change Agents project that forms part of a series of lectures (‘Inside…’), which aim to allow lecturers to share their research with a more widespread audience. Organised by fourth year student Natalie Whitehead and second year student Bethan Cornell, the aim was to encourage interest amongst their peers with their lecturers’ research. They were assisted in the set-up of the event by the College’s Student Experience and Employability Officer, Jake Hibberd, and the Head of Physics and Astronomy, Professor Bill Barnes.

The event was well received by the 45 attendees, and saw three of the presenting lecturers in the final CEMPS vote for Research Uncovered; a Guild-run series of lectures that shares research with a wider audience than would normally be possible. The level of interest with the ‘Inside Physics’ lectures, as well as others of the ‘Inside…’ series, was so high that various student committees have decided to include similar events in a student-focused campaign in CEMPS, ‘Research Month’, which is planned to take place in November 2015.

On March 17th, second year Mathematics student Roy Osborne held a Module Fair to inform students of how their choices would impact them during the coming year. With the assistance of Professor Andrew Gilbert and Dr Barrie Cooper, Roy organised descriptions of 88 modules, the attendance of around 40 lecturers and contacted approximately 700 students via social media to advertise the event.

The event was well received, with around 300 students in attendance from a range of academic years. The Fair also provided the opportunity for experienced students to give advice to first and second years. Lauren Binder, a fourth year Mathematics student, stated that “one of the most useful things for the younger years to actually do is talk to people who have done the modules already. It’s all very well going to the lecturers, but talking to people who have actually studied it and been through the coursework and done the exams is a lot more useful.” These discussions would usually happen on the ‘Exeter University Mathematics Help Group’ on Facebook, but the results of the questionnaire cards at the event suggest that the personable atmosphere gave the attending students a great experience.

Overall, 86 of the feedback cards were completed and submitted by attendees, with the event receiving an average score of 3.3 out of 5. The response rate was lower than expected considering the high number of attendees, however this could be explained by the fact that so many more students attended than expected, leading to an overcrowded room and leaving many students unable to engage properly with the information on offer. Roy has agreed that any student organising the event next year will need to find a bigger room.

A degree in Medical Imaging (MI) requires a student to have a diverse skill set; one part of this is a competent understanding of Maths-based Physics. Some of the undergraduate modules on offer at the University of Exeter focus on this skill. It became clear, however, that many of the second year MI students studying these modules did not have a strong grounding in this particular aspect. One reason identified was the possibility that, as a large proportion of the Medical Imaging cohort are mature students, they may not have necessarily used or studied Maths frequently or recently enough to have a firm grasp of it.

Joseph Beadle, a fourth year Physics student, and Stephen Biles, a fourth year Physics with Professional Experience student, gave up 63 hours of their time in order to assist second year MI students who were struggling with the Mathematical aspects of their course. With the assistance of Julie Mills (Senior Lecturer in Medical Imaging), Karen Knapp (Associate Professor in Musculoskeletal Imaging) and Professor Julian Moger (Associate Professor in Biophotonics), Joseph and Stephen assisted 122 students with their learning during the first term of this academic year. Speaking about the project, Joseph said: “We help Medical Imaging students with Maths and Physics because it’s been found that it’s an area that they struggle with, and it’s an area that [we], as Physics students, should feel quite confident [with].”

The SciTech Conference was an ambitious Students as Change Agents project aiming to engage undergraduate students from across STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) in a collaborative selection of research, projects and presentations. The project was driven by fourth year Mathematics student Louis Tsiattalou, with the assistance of the CEMPS Student Experience and Employability Officer, Jake Hibberd, Professor Pete Vukusic (Professor of BioPhotonics), Louise Harris (CEMPS Assistant College Manager of Education) and Stephen Rose. The Conference would run from 10am4pm on Thursday 28th May 2015 and would give students a chance to experience the atmosphere of an academic conference first-hand, whether by presenting or spectating, as well as having the rare opportunity to meet students from other disciplines. Funding towards this project was secured from The Student Partnership Board, which was put towards catering, transport and venue costs.

Unfortunately, the Conference had to be suspended until the following academic year (2015/16), due to a low number of student speakers and presenters. The potential of this project is such that the team want to do it justice and ensure its impact, legacy and sustainability. The funding has been retained, which will allow the team a further 12 months to organise the Conference as well as attract a high profile, external speaker and gather interest throughout the College.

THE COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES

In total, there were 19 Students as Change Agents projects that took place within the College of Humanities in academic year 2014-15, with assistance from Spike Van Der Vliet-Firth. Projects focused on: extra-curricular activities and learning new skills, essay-writing skills, careers fairs, outreach schemes, strengthening the relationship between students, staff and the Student Staff Liaison Committees, the sharing of research, Peer Support and also the organisation of a large conference.

Fourth year Archaeology student and Chair of the Humanities Student Staff Liaison Committee, Ellie March, ran a workshop concerning the use of 3D scanning in Archaeology. The workshop was set up with the assistance of Seán Goddard from the department’s support staff and with assistance from College IT. The utilisation of 3D laser scanners in Archaeology has revolutionised the way they now work; finds can now be examined still encased in soil, and scanned, giving an incredibly accurate picture of what lies beneath the soil. This means that time is saved in excavating the object by hand, which is a slow and delicate process.

The workshop was fully booked very quickly, possibly due to 3D scanning currently having no place in the curriculum. Ellie felt that students would benefit from understanding the range of skills necessary for the study of Archaeology, as seen by her other Change Agents projects. This project is one of many that she has run with the aim of providing a more comprehensive experience of Archaeology for her peers. This introduction to a new aspect of their subject will have shown attendees how multifaceted a subject such as Archaeology can be, by integrating technology into what is typically considered a traditional, theory heavy, academic programme. This has led to the department deciding to implement a module in 3D Scanning as an option for first year students in the 2015/16 academic year.

Led by Toby Cairns, a second year Archaeology and Anthropology student, Technology Champion and SSLC representative for Archaeology, this project focuses on producing and maintaining an online database of the artefacts in the University’s collection. These artefacts are used by staff and students within their academic work, primarily in subjects such as Archaeology, Ancient History and Classics. The database is hosted on Google Fusion software; this keeps it independent of the University’s IT system and protects it from any software changes that the IT system may undergo. There is also a lot of support for Google Fusion online, and by basing the database on this software many users can assist with maintaining it. A further benefit of the software is that it is free, so the project incurs no cost, and it is accessible for everyone.

The artefacts will go through a process of 3D scanning; the scanned objects will then be available to view through the software, allowing examination of them without actually handling them. Over the summer of 2015 Toby has requested that staff assist him in prioritising artefacts for addition to the database; the entries will then be scanned and added over the 2015/16 year. At the beginning of this academic year, Toby will begin to recruit students to assist with this. Particularly, he will focus on disciplines where students may wish to pursue an interest in Archaeology, and those who take artefact-based modules.

It is hoped that a core team of 10-15 students will be assembled, which will regularly dedicate its time to the maintenance of the database. At the end of the 2015/16 academic year, Toby will hand over directorship of the project in the hopes that it will continue long after he graduates.

Referencing for academic works is a divisive concept even amongst esteemed scholars. With many different formats, students are often unsure of what style to utilise. Sometimes personal choice is a factor, but other times different lecturers in the same department request different styles. The Archaeology Student Staff Liaison Committee (SSLC), which is comprised of Ellie March, Malene Lauritsen, Katrina Dring, Sarah Hagger, Amy Cross, Toby Cairns, Danni Croucher, Lesa Rosewarne, Hannah Miles and Chloe Jaques, felt that first year students could benefit from a standardised referencing format supplied to them by final year students. In an attempt to supply this, the SSLC arranged a session with the assistance of Spike van der Vliet-Firth, involving both first and final year students, to supply and explain the student and staff approved referencing style.

Arguably, teaching first year students this standardised format could be incredibly effective as it would prevent them developing their own referencing style and having to overcome bad habits later in their degree. The event may also impact further than just the students who attended the session, as the participants will advise their peers on good conduct in referencing. The event was well-attended and the standardisation will not only hopefully improve the marks of first year student essays, but also save staff time responding to e-mails and arranging one-toone sessions to discuss referencing.

Geophysics surveying involves the utilisation of a variety of techniques and is a way of detecting and assessing subsurface features. The practice utilises technology to map out areas of earth that may contain archaeological finds including evidence of pits, building remains, burnt areas and other things of interest. The methods do not involve physical excavation of the earth, and they are a cost-effective and quick way of discovering more information about a potential dig site. Despite this, there are currently no Archaeology modules dedicated to these techniques .

Fourth year Archaeology student and Chair of the Humanities Student Staff Liaison Committee, Ellie March, decided to address the absence of this subject within her curriculum. She organised a workshop through Students as Change Agents, focusing on the techniques and equipment involved in Geophysics Surveying. The workshop was fully booked, which demonstrated the high level of interest that Archaeology students had in this area of study.

The project has allowed students to gain experience in a niche subject within their area of study, and due to the popularity of the event, Geophysics surveying will be featuring as a taught module option for all Archaeology students over the 2015/16 academic year.

Archaeology students Amy Cross, Lesa Rosenware and Hannah Miles have run a Students as Change Agents project, which aimed to showcase the career options that are available to Archaeology students after graduation.

With the assistance of the College’s Employability Officer Rachel Wheeler, and Alumni Officer Jess Greenaway, the three organised a successful careers fair. The event saw alumni and employers in attendance, and attracting 60 students. It is hoped that the event will be run annually from now on.

Fourth year Archaeology student and Chair of the Humanities Student Staff Liaison Committee Ellie March felt that her curriculum was lacking in practical instruction. To this end, and with the assistance of Seån Goddard from the department’s support staff, she organised a workshop through Students as Change Agents focusing on the practical skills of architectural drawing. The workshop was fully booked, showing the high level of interest that Archaeology students had in this area of study. The project has allowed these students to expand their repertoire of skills outside of what would normally be taught through their course and, due to the popularity of the event, Archaeological drawing will be featuring as a taught module option for all Archaeology students in 2015/16.

Ellie March, a fourth year Archaeology student and Chair of the Humanities Student Staff Liaison Committee, ran a workshop focusing on the place of photography in Archaeology. The workshop was set up with the assistance of Seán Goddard from the department’s support staff, with the capacity of ten students becoming fully-booked extremely quickly. The subject of photography in Archaeology is not covered by the curriculum, and Ellie felt that students would benefit from understanding the range of skills necessary for the study of Archaeology. The workshop benefited from the experience of Exeter Archaeology alumni, who spoke regarding their Archaeological photography experience. This introduction to a new aspect of their subject may encourage attendees to pursue a career in this field, or encourage them to broaden their horizons and understand the variety of skills that can develop through Archaeological study. The Archaeology department since decided to implement a module in Archaeological Photography as an option for first year students in the 2015/16 academic year. This Students as Change Agents project shows how students can positively impact their own, and others’, university experience.

This Students as Change Agents project has continued from last year and has expanded massively since the original conception by Peter Tse, now in his third year of studying English. Students continue to share their passion for literature with the elderly, leading to a strong sense of inter-generational relationships between the students. The visits are clearly popular, as can be seen from a second year English student’s testimonial: “The Care Homes Reading Project has been both fun and rewarding. My only regret is not taking part in my first year… I was placed with a lovely lady named Peggy, and I organised a weekly slot when I would visit in term time. Peggy writes her own poems, so all along my experience has been one of reading poetry and discussing it. As an English Literature student, is has been wonderfully refreshing to read texts without overthinking them, but instead enjoying the sounds and images for what they are… The ladies are brilliant fun and shattered for me any kind of stereotypical care home experience – they are constantly laughing and mischievous (several outlandish escape plots have been hatched). I feel like I have made a genuine connection and one of my favourite moments was when Anne (who has dementia) remembered who I was for the first time. We have also created several poems together. There was a nonsense poem created from a rhyme game we made up and several limericks about the care home staff!”

The weekly visits have been extremely popular, around 100 students are benefiting from this experience, and are proving just how much of an asset the student body is, not only to the University, but also to the local community.

The project has also been expanded to primary schools in the local area, allowing more students to experience this rewarding activity and benefiting their community.

Writing an essay is one of the most crucial skills developed at university. Some modules accord essays with up to 40% of the overall mark, with many assessments entirely essay based. With this in mind, it is clear that the ability to write a coherent essay can significantly impact on a student’s degree and their final qualification. In Classics and Ancient History, students are given an introductory lecture at the beginning of their first year concerning essay style, structure and referencing. However, it soon became clear to the department’s Student Staff Liaison Committee (SSLC) that when it was time for students to write their essays and plan for their exams, they had mostly forgotten the advice that they had been given.

In an attempt to reassure students and better prepare them for these works, Francesca Wylie, a second year SSLC rep, led a workshop devoted to essay writing. The students were given comprehensive feedback during this session, advising them how to break down the title question, structure their arguments, how to reference and how to complete their bibliography. Twelve students attended the event, which lasted for two hours. Francesca’s efforts will hopefully have improved the attendees’ writing skills, leading to higher marks on both coursework and exams.

Furthermore, she may have saved staff time in answering numerous questions concerning the set coursework or upcoming exams. It is also hoped that the attendees will share their new knowledge with other students; disseminating the information and encouraging higher results across the College whilst saving staff more time.

Elaine Sanderson, a third year Classics and Ancient History student and President of Classics Society, was keen to strengthen relations between staff and students within her department. She felt that it could be daunting for new staff that joined the College to integrate themselves within what is an already established community of academics and students. She devised a way for new and existing staff to introduce themselves, their areas of interests and any research they were currently undertaking. She arranged video interviews with many of her lecturers and uploaded them to a WordPress site accessible to anyone.

This meant that students could watch the interviews, and feel like they already knew the lecturer when they actually met them in person, encouraging engagement with staff in both formal and informal settings. The staff also benefitted from being able to publicise their topics of interest and research, and furthermore new staff had an easily accessible way of introducing themselves, encouraging a sense of community within the department.

The website has now grown to incorporate blog posts centred on events hosted by the Classics and Ancient History department, the Classics Society, the Student Staff Liaison Committee and will soon include student interviews. The interviews can be found here: https://exeterclassics.wordpress.com/staff-interviews/

Student lead Tom McConnell, a third year Classics and Ancient History student and member of the Student Staff Liaison Committee (SSLC), has worked with the SSLC and Classics Society to hold an event about the wealth of extra -curricular activities available to Classics and Ancient History students. As the event fell on the night of the new moon, the group decided that a mystical element would be appropriate for the event, and they named the project the ‘Exonian Mysteries’. Students were greeted by Dr. Sharon Marshall in the guise of the ‘Chief Priestess’, who gave students riddled clues to find the stalls where the extra-curricular opportunities were displayed.

In attendance at the event were representatives from Pegasus Journal (the journal of the Department of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Exeter), The Undergraduate Journal (a journal for undergraduate research at the University), The Classical Association and the Ipplepen Archaeological Project (an excavation in Devon).

The driving force behind the project was to give students the chance to view all opportunities on offer to them at one ‘fair’ style event, as opposed to having to rely on word-of-mouth. The event was very successful, with 50 attendees, and discussions are underway in hope of making this event an annual occurrence in the department.

A department’s Student Staff Liaison Committee (SSLC) provides an important link between staff and students, dealing with everything from requests for certain books in the library, to raising issues concerning assessment (marking, exam questions, etc.) However, not all students are aware of the importance of the SSLC and how it impacts the student cohort.

To raise awareness, the SSLC and departmental staff (Dr Gillian Juleff and Dr John Davey) decided to run a poster campaign that would highlight what the SSLC offered to students. The aim was to encourage and celebrate communication with the student body, as well as serving as a platform to demonstrate the SSLC’s achievements.

The poster provides an eye-catching display and it is now easily recognised by Archaeology students. All members of the SSLC (ten in total) were involved in the creation of the poster; the project took five hours and has benefited approximately 100 students. It is also an invaluable tool to keep students abreast of on-going projects and recent changes as a result of their feedback.

Continuing this project from the 2013/14 academic year, several students, primarily from Classics and Ancient History, have established Latin tutoring classes at Queen Elizabeth’s Community College (QE) in Crediton, Devon.

The scheme is led by Hershil Kotak, a third year Classics and Ancient History student and Student’s Guild Subject Chair for his discipline. The scheme comprises of ten students and benefits ten QE students who attend tutoring sessions during their lunch hour. Approximately 100 hours of volunteering has gone into the scheme and the response has been extremely positive from both the QE students mentored, as well as the students involved in tutoring, with several now considering a career in education. The benefits of the scheme are manifold, with the tutees gaining valuable knowledge of Latin and possibly developing interest in a subject outside of their curriculum, whilst at the same time the tutors gain valuable teaching experience.

Staff have assisted with the establishment of the project; Professor Lynette Mitchell is the staff lead on this scheme, whilst academic staff within the College have assisted in establishing links with other schools to expand the scheme to other schools in the Devon area. This Students as Change Agents project has received fantastic support from the College, and has developed into what is known affectionately in the discipline as ‘Isca Latina’. This year, the scheme was rolled out to three primary schools, although there is a shortage of schools for the amount of volunteers wishing to be involved.

This project, run by Gerald Owen and the Student Staff Liaison Committee for Postgraduate Taught Programmes, is aiming to maximise time spent on-campus for several commuters on the Translation MA programme. The project sees the students participate in PAL (Peer Assisted Learning) sessions whilst on-campus; allowing them to learn academically from each other but also to expand their social circle.

The sessions have been extremely successful, with an attendance rate of approximately 75%. Speaking about the project, Gerald said that “sessions have been organised spontaneously through the year to discuss, say, general course reading or recommendations for reading around essay topics. The consensus is that these sessions have proved useful as we have learned from each other, but also grown as a group. As study hours (lectures and seminars) are limited, I think this has proved beneficial to all, especially those who are not Exeter-based and may not have the opportunity to meet with coursemates outside of study sessions... I am sure other PGT groups would have similar experiences. At a personal level, I have benefited [from] meeting my colleague in German to compare our respective completed translations prior to our seminar. Moving forward, the feedback I have had from coursemates is that PAL sessions would be useful, but should not be compulsory.” As a result of the success of this project, PAL sessions have been added as a course option for the next academic year, allowing these MA students to benefit academically and socially from their time on the campus.

Second year Film Studies student David Holt has continued his Students as Change Agents project from the 2013/14 academic year, due to its success and popular demand. His ‘Practical Film Competition’ gives Humanities students the opportunity to cast, direct, record and star in their own short film, providing them with complementary experience to their theory-based academic programme. The response to this project was fantastic, with over 101 positive responses from the College alone, and out of these, 18 participants were able to enter the competition. The large amount of demand shows the popularity of this project and it is unfortunate that more participants could not be catered for - however, next year it is hoped that David will be able to bring in others to support the organisation of the project.

Although there is a clear demand for this project to continue, there are concerns that funding may not be available from the Annual Fund or the department (as the project has been running for two years). Four films were produced in this competition: ‘In Character’, where a director pushes an actress to her limits; ‘One Hit Wonder’, where a man is offered the chance to sign his life away for 24 hours of fame; ‘#NoFilter’, where a house party turns sour, and ‘Zoetrope’; a lock-in in the Bill Douglas Museum. Of these four, ‘#NoFilter’ (produced by Ricky Bevins, Lydia Morris, Helen Packer and Natalie Taylor) was declared the winner by a panel of judges from Exeter’s Phoenix Arts Centre.

The film can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwx1LrLul_0 and for more of the entries: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjlmnNrZRc2Wdhf_zvyPObA

Queer Studies is the exploration of the historical and contemporary experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender peoples. Such studies encompass the concept of gender, the struggle for recognition and legalisation, inequality and many other topics in relation to LGBT (sometimes LGBTQ) concepts.

In March 2015, student Immy Sykes organised a conference devoted to the subject of Queer Studies in Cornwall, the first of its type in the history of the South-West. The event, ‘Marginal Perceptions: Queer Voice In & Beyond Conventional Disciplines’, was free for all to attend and featured a number of film screenings, an information fair, and a workshop based on activism and the General Election. This was run alongside a unique, interactive ‘constellation art’ project, led by the Feminist Society, paying homage to the campus partnership with Falmouth University. This conference was also the second largest on this topic in the world this year, and featured talks from a number of notable academics such as Professor Sally Munt (University of Sussex), Dr. Gavin Brown (University of Leicester) and Dr. Ruth Heholt (Falmouth University).

Speaking about the event, organiser Billy Burton, a second year Geography student, said, "we are thrilled to bring such a fantastic line-up of guest speakers to the Penryn Campus. We've been able to attract some of the finest speakers in their fields, encompassing English Literature, Cultural Studies and Geography, a brilliantly multidisciplinary mix that reflects the ethos of the conference perfectly."

The conference featured four academic panels with a variety of topics. The first, ‘Emerging from England’s Closet’, featured papers that charted a journey from the legal recognition of homosexuality in the late 19th century, to how those identities manifest after the turn of the century. The second, ‘Queer Adolescences’, illustrated how adolescent expressions of sexuality and gender engage with the broader issues of queer theory. The third, ‘Contemporary Narratives’, addressed more recent texts, exploring how people engaged with the concept of LGBT. The final panel, ‘Remembering Queer Politicised Voices’, undertook studies of politically and historically embattled identities.

A number of undergraduate and postgraduate students from different disciplines were given the opportunity to present their papers on the above topics, some from as far away as France. The event was educational for all involved; the audience, the organisers (through the planning and running of an academic conference), and participants will have benefited from the opportunity to present their papers in a professional environment.

Third year Classics and Ancient History student and Student Staff Liaison Committee rep, Tom McConnell, organised a student-led essay clinic for first year students in the second term of the 2014/15 academic year. Dr Sharon Marshall, Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History, assisted Tom with the formation of the event, which aimed to help these students avoid academic pitfalls by bringing in third year students to assist with enhancing their writing skills. Four third year students gave up an hour of their time to advise fifteen students on how to plan, structure, reference and write their academic essays in the second term, as well as their summer exams.

The feedback from the event was very positive; many of the first year students stated that they had attended in order to ask questions they felt were too trivial to bring up in lectures, or to email to their module leads. Others brought questions they were too embarrassed to ask, as they knew that the lecturer had previously covered them. This shows that a student-led peer support session can instil attendees with a sense of ease and comfort, allowing them to openly ask and discuss questions with their peers that they perhaps would not wish to ask a lecturer for fear of troubling them.

Three students, who have partaken in Study Abroad, have run a Students as Change Agents project aimed at informing and reassuring students about the scheme. It was found through polling that students would like more down-to-earth information about the opportunity.

It was felt that the overall promotion as a wholly positive experience was actually having a negative impact on students who struggled during their time abroad; these students were feeling isolated in having negative experiences. To address this, Katherine Bradshaw (Film Studies and German), Catherine Sankey (Economics and German) and Rebecca Gooch (MFL German and French with proficiency in Italian) have created the leaflet ‘Your Year Abroad in a German-Speaking Country, A guide by Exeter students for Exeter students’. The project aims to advise students on what can be expected on a year abroad, including the challenges that may be faced, as well as what their completed year abroad portfolios should look like.

The leaflet is packed with useful information for any student studying in a German -speaking country, from emergency contact numbers such as the British Embassy, to useful vocabulary. The leaflet also includes profiles of cities, what to see there and generally how to make the most of the experience. The leaflet works in a way to reassure readers that fears and discomfort are natural at the beginning of the Study Abroad experience; it succinctly addresses how to tackle many of the most common problems experienced during this period, and uses student testimonies to demonstrate what a great experience a year abroad is.

The leaflet took the team 50 hours to create, and is available as a Microsoft Publisher document, which will be accessible for any Study Abroad students who wish to use it. Funding was also available for 80 copies to be printed and bound in a well-presented document. Whilst it will be especially useful to anyone studying in a Germanspeaking country, the wealth of general information on offer will be useful for all students and will advise them on such things as crucial documentation to pack. It is hoped that in the future, it will be rolled out for other languages as students will recognise the opportunity to create similar documents.

Theology Subject Chair, Alistair Heath, ran a Students as Change Agents project aimed at informing his peers of where their Theology degree can take them. Working with Spike van der Vliet-Firth, he set up an ‘Alumni Careers Day’ where students could learn first-hand what career opportunities were open to them after they progress beyond university. The event saw 24 students meeting three Exeter Theology alumni who are now working in variety of fields: Claudia Dickens (BA Philosophy and Theology 2012) who now works as the Mobile Technology Programme Office for the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women; Stuart Cakebread (BA Theology 1976), a barrister at the Selbourne Chambers in London, and Tania West (MA Theology 1995) the director of Kairos Leadership Development.

The speakers gave entertaining and informative talks to the students who attended the event, and it is hoped that this will encourage them to aspire to highly achieve in their degrees, and beyond.

THE COLLEGE OF LIFE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES In total, there were 23 Students as Change Agent projects within the College of Life and Environmental Sciences, supported by Rebecca Holdsworth at the Streatham campus and Stephanie Wheeler at the Penryn campus. Projects covered a wide range of topics, including: tackling gender inequality in STEMM subjects, collaborative events and media publications, module fairs, research conferences, employability committees, the creation of support networks, student-led learning initiatives and peer mentoring.

The Athena SWAN Charter was established in 2005 in order to raise awareness of and advance the careers of women within STEMM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths, and Medicine). A Students as Change Agents project run by Matilda Dunn, a third year Zoology student, aims to raise awareness of the issues that Athena SWAN tackles. This short film explores the reasons for the gender gap within STEM subjects; Matilda felt that it was important to educate her viewers on this subject, particularly undergraduate students. The film also investigates what options are available to encourage more women to enter into these fields.

With the assistance of Stephanie Wheeler (Student Engagement, Widening Participation and Internationalisation Co-ordinator), Iris Boudier (Equality and Diversity Project Officer), and Gail Reeves (CLES Assistant College Manager), Matilda gathered a group of undergraduate and postgraduate students to assist her with the creation of the video. Russell Barnett was their main camera man and editor; Liz Daly was the presenter, script writer and editor; Jo Goodfellow served as a producer and editor; Sarah Hamm also assisted with script writing and camera work. Finally, Iris Boudier, Stephanie Wheeler and Liselle Jackson assisted as the resident Athena SWAN experts; they also assisted with producing, filming and planning the final project.

The video contains numerous interviews with staff and students on topics relating to women in STEMM academic careers. It also includes a discussion about how the Athena SWAN programme can help to overcome the barriers that women in science face, and promote gender equality within these disciplines. The film was premiered at the Wild Film Fest in June, followed by a Q&A with the team. It is hoped that this video will promote greater engagement with Athena SWAN amongst undergraduate students, and encourage women to pursue a career in STEMM academia through the female role-models featured in the film. The film can be viewed here: https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=kciBO94TDaI

On May 30th, a Students as Change Agents project saw students attempt to survey all the local flora and fauna at Tremough campus within 24 hours. BioBlitz was run by EcoSoc members Jessica Arrowsmith, Emily Fergusson and Megan France, with the assistance of Stephanie Wheeler (Student Engagement, Widening Participation and Internationalisation Co-ordinator) and Ben Toulson (Employability Officer).

They were joined by 11 local environmental NGOs, including Butterfly Conservation Cornwall and Prickles and Paws Hedgehog Rescue, and were supported by around 30 student volunteers. Different activities were available across the day, such as bird ringing, mammal trapping, moth trapping, wildlife walks, and pond dipping. The event was well attended, with around 200 visitors throughout the day, and saw 176 species recorded before lunch. The project also had a strong presence on social media, with 164 likes on Facebook and 221 followers on Twitter.

Their Facebook page can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/PenrynBioBlitz?fref=ts, and Twitter here: https://twitter.com/BioBlitzPenryn

Second year Biology student and Biosciences Subject Chair, Joseph Slack, ran a Students as Change Agents project to allow his peers to make better informed decisions when choosing their modules for the next academic year. With the assistance of Dr Sara Burton, it was arranged for a module fair to take place, where students could meet with academics and discuss any modules that they were considering taking. The event took approximately 25 hours to organise, and saw the attendance of around 200 students. The reception was extremely positive and it is hoped that benefits will be seen next academic year; better informed students will enjoy their modules and feel more confident with their decisions. Staff time will also be saved due to less module changes.

Zeya Wagner and Liselle Jackson, second year Animal Behaviour students, have continued a Students as Change Agents project focused on improving employability and networking opportunities for Bioscience students. During 2014/15, the ‘Biosciences Student Employability Committee’ was formed by eight students, two of whom were co -presidents.

The committee focuses on holding talks relevant to Biosciences, as well as networking opportunities with alumni and employers. The events have been well attended; they are open to all CLES students and each seminar is attended by between 20-80 students a week. The committee have also organised CLES Careers Fairs for both undergraduate and postgraduate students, which were attended by 230 respectively. The committee also has 508 likes on their Facebook page, demonstrating the level of engagement the group maintains within the College.

Third year Biological Sciences student Corey Holt has created a student-led magazine that aims to inform his peers as to what constitutes good practice. The magazine will also provide information on research, staff profiles, student activity, and general scientific interests. Recruiting Dr Nicky King as his staff lead, Corey then assembled a team of students who would help write and edit the articles, including: Elliot Fisher, Joanne Boden, Georgie Walker, Lisa Wood, Bethany Wood, Natalie Smith, and Anastasia Toynbee. They were also assisted by the editor, and two sub-editors, from Penryn’s ‘Life’ magazine, who shared their advice and experiences with the team.

The team began work on the first issue of the magazine, which is to be called ‘Excite’, following exams this year and will be published in time for the beginning of the 2015/16 academic year.

Set up as a result of the success of the ‘Bioscience Student Employability Committee’, the ‘Geography Student Employability Committee’ hopes to replicate the success of this Change Agents project. Formed by second year Geography student Charlotte Ettling, the committee runs employability and networking events aimed at Geography students to help improve their future prospects. The project also utilises social media strongly, by posting job vacancies that may be of interest to Geography students on their Facebook page.

Although this project has only recently been set up, it is proving extremely popular with Geography undergraduates. Their Facebook page has received 92 members over a short space of time, and this looks set to increase over the next academic year.

Two second year Geography students are aiming to broaden their peers’ knowledge of the Geography department and the ongoing research conducted by their lecturers. Emily Beardshaw and Lucie Foster decided that students could benefit from a concise summary of departmental news, lecturer research and campus events.

To this end, they set up Geography Unearthed; a monthly publication aimed at informing and entertaining both staff and students in the department. The duo recruited Professor Catherine Leyshon (Associate Professor of Human Geography) as their subject lead and editor, and focused on developing an informative newsletter to be distributed to both students and staff via e-mail. At present, there have been four issues of ‘Geography Unearthed’, with the two students aiming to produce copies more frequently if the demand is there. They next aim to produce a feedback questionnaire to see what sort of material their audience would like to see included within the publication.

The benefits of the newsletter are manifold; not only do Geography students gain an understanding of their lecturers’ research, also offering publicity and recognition for these members of staff, but those involved in the production of the newsletter gain excellent journalistic experience. From conducting interviews, to writing and editing skills, the students gain a greater understanding of environmental journalism as a whole. The publication informs its readership on a variety of different topics: the first issue’s scope ranged from campus events (both past and future), such as Geography field trips and Geography Society’s Christmas Soiree, to how the New Year is celebrated in different parts of the world. The issues also included a ‘Diary of a Geographer’, which was a student’s perspective of their course, campus and the wider applicability of a Geography Degree. The second issue featured an interview with Editor Catherine Leyshon celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Penryn campus, discussing the history of the campus and her ongoing research. Currently, the publication has five contributors: Emily Beardshaw, Lucy Foster, Eleanor Dodson, Jon Gausden and Louisa Pennell. Emily and Lucy hope to expand their outlets as the publication continues.

Speaking about the project, Emily said, “I came up with the project because I love writing and thought it would be great to have an outlet that provided the opportunity to write, but that was still relevant to my degree discipline. A newsletter is brief, but can help to bring together information from a wide variety of sources; something which I felt would benefit Geography students as we often get many separate emails, but there is no single place where all of the key points about current events could be found. The project also allows input from different students in different year groups, making it relevant to the whole department. Putting each issue together has been great fun so far; it's very informal and Geography is such a broad subject that many topics could become future articles. We have had great feedback from staff and students about the newsletter so far and the newsletter is now printed for open days and widening participation events too. If the newsletter continues to be successful we hope to be able to set up a blog alongside the newsletter, under the same name, which could contain longer articles from a greater number of students.”

Journal Club is a Students as Change Agents project run by Avenie Mavadia, a third year Biological Science student. With the assistance of Dr Katie Solomon, Avenie has organised a club where students can meet and discuss academic journals relevant to their discipline. This provides an opportunity for students to not only improve their critiquing and presenting skills, but also to socialise with other students within their College.

Life, the student-led magazine established in 2013 by Biosciences student Roz Evans, has continued this year. The nature magazine features the latest news and research from the University and from across the world. The magazine focuses on different themes every issue, including ‘New in Science’, ‘Careers’, ‘In the Field’, and many more.

The project continues to bring together students from both Exeter and Falmouth campuses, as both contributors and Life Team editors, (approving and producing the magazine). These activities provide students with excellent experience in creating and submitting to an academic magazine, as well as allowing their audience to stay in touch with the scientific advancements made within their field.

An archive of previous Life issues can be found here: http:// lifesciences.exeter.ac.uk/outreach/cornwall/lifemag/

Natural Selection is a podcast that shares cutting-edge research from the Penryn Campus’ Centre for Ecology and Conservation. Started by MSc student Josie Pachta, and supported

by Bioscience lecturer Josie Orledge, the project now has a team of 17 members working on the podcasts. This includes interviewing academics, editing, and uploading the audio. The episodes cover varying topics, from conservation to evolution, and also include ‘specials’ on the Bioscience field courses to Borneo, Africa and the Bahamas. These podcasts give the audience an inside look at new research, as well as providing valuable experience in producing and editing the audio clips to be uploaded to Sound Cloud. The use of Sound Cloud as a platform provides easy accessibility to all who wish to listen to the podcasts, and is a good example of using digital media to engage an audience.

Each podcast takes around eight hours to prepare and seven have been produced this year on a monthly basis.

The podcasts have proven very popular, with each receiving around 200 listens; the project also has 766 likes on Facebook, 123 followers on Twitter, and was shortlisted for the FXU award, ‘Student Media or Innovation Project of the Year’. The project will continue into the 2015/16 academic year, and current episodes can be found here: https://soundcloud.com/exeter-podcast

Emma Dwan, a second year Zoology student and committee member of FXU Wildlife Documentary Society, is leading the new student project ‘NatureWatch’; a nature programme similar to BBC’s Springwatch. Based in Cornwall, the films showcase local wildlife, scientific research, and the work of conservation organisations. The project provides students with the opportunity to present their own research, as well as showing the research taking place at the Penryn campus. It also allows students to develop extra-curricular skills such filming, editing and presenting.

With the assistance of Employability Officer Ben Toulson, the team (made up of ten committee members) has set up a Facebook page and a YouTube channel where the completed episodes will be posted. The preview, which was posted to Facebook, has had 4477 views, and the page has over 600 likes. The first episode premiered at the Wild Film Festival on June 9th and reached over seven hundred views on YouTube in just one week. NatureWatch has also received support from Nick Baker (TV Presenter) and Gordon Buchanan (Wildlife Cameraman) through social media. This project will continue next academic year and has already been approached by several external organisations and university staff members who are keen to work with the programme.

Exe-BioCon was organised for and by postgraduate students. This Students as Change Agents project was organised by Afsoon Sadeghi Azadi and took place on Tuesday 16th June 2015. Afsoon ran the project in order to address a gap in PGR communications: students are unaware of the research being undertaken by their peers. With so many different aspects to Biology, Afsoon felt it was important for these students to have a chance to present their research to other members of their College, and to engage with ideas and feedback from a variety of sources including staff, potential employers and fellow students.

Afsoon spoke with Student Engagement Officer Will Page, and the College’s Student Engagement, Widening Participation and Internationalisation Co-ordinator Rebecca Holdsworth in February. Rebecca outlined a plan for a full day conference hosted in the Forum, providing a multitude of platforms for students to display their work.

Utilising grant funding from the Biosciences Research Strategy Fund to set up the conference, and securing the Forum as the venue, Afsoon then formed a committee to help oversee the project. Applications were opened for submissions and were divided into talks, of which there were 12 across the day, and poster/abstract submissions, of which there were 34 in total. The team managed to secure funding to award prizes for the best oral and poster presentations; over ÂŁ400 was secured from Eppendorf, Sigma-Aldrich, New England BioLabs and ThermoFisher.

The event was a success and all feedback has been extremely positive. The event benefited from the input of respected academics, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Nick Talbot was the KeyNote speaker and Professor Murray Grant closed the ceremony. It is hoped that, following on from this success, the event will become an annual conference. Afsoon would also like to see an expansion of this to events that are suitable for PhD students, with the emphasis placed on what they are currently doing, as opposed to what they want to do in the future.

Hang Yu Yeung, a second year Psychology student, has begun running lunchtime sessions focusing on the use of technology in the academic aspects of Psychology. Setting out to see if students needed extra training to make the most of the technology available to them, Hang recruited Tristan Cann (Digital Literacies Assistant) as his staff lead. Between them, they organised a successful first session in term one with 38 attendees, focusing on how technology could assist with referencing and utilised RefMe, the free referencing generator. Also included was how to manage referencing and formatting in Microsoft Word, covering aspects such as header styles, reference formats, and shortcuts. Moving forward, Hang has an interest in expanding the use of technology throughout education; he will be working on a series of demo videos for use across the University over summer and has also applied to be a Prezi ambassador to the University.

Final year Sport and Health Sciences student, and Subject Chair, Matthew Campbell, ran a Students as Change Agents project aimed at forging a greater sense of community between staff and students at the St. Luke’s campus. With the assistance of Dr. Benjamin Wall, and 20 hours of work, Matthew arranged an SHS Pub Quiz; around 125 people attended the event, and the feedback was extremely positive. The chance to interact in a social setting will hopefully establish a stronger bond between academic staff and students.

Second year Zoology student Rebekah Trehern has started a blog focused on the research being carried out by academics within CLES. This allows students to engage in the work undertaken in their College and also allows greater publicity for the academics involved. The blog provides other students the opportunity to write articles based on a variety of topics, from meerkats and jackdaws, to whether magpies really do like shiny objects. This allows participants to gain valuable, transferable skills, such as writing and editing. The blog has proven popular with over 200 page views a month, 130 likes on Facebook and 40 Twitter followers. The blog can be found here: https://telluscles.wordpress.com/

Copious research has been undertaken over the last few years on the gender gap that exists within STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), whilst scholars continue to debate the reasons for women’s underrepresentation in these fields. A Students as Change Agents project is attempting to address this issue at the University of Exeter. Recent research has shown that overall, female students felt less confident about their degree and entering a STEM career following their studies than their male peers. (Source: Morgenroth, T. Peters, K. and Ryan, M. (2013) ‘Experiences, Motivation and Goals of Male and Female Undergraduate Students - Results of the Athena SWAN Undergraduate Survey’, University of Exeter.)

Third year Geography student and Subject Chair Jo Hornsey, fourth year Physics student Natalie Whitehead and Subject Chair of Physics Bethan Cornell, are all working with STEM departments within the University to identify the reasons behind this lack of confidence. This information will then be fed-back to the departments who aim to take the appropriate action to remedy this issue, whether this is a change in classroom atmosphere, availability of support or different teaching techniques. The three students are supported by four staff leads; Dr. Sarah Dyer (Senior Lecturer in Human Geography), Barbara Powell (CLES Assistant College Manager – Education), Professor Peter Vukusic (Professor of BioPhotonics) and CEMPS Student Experience and Employability Officer Jake Hibberd.

Work is now ongoing to collate the group’s research and to decide on the appropriate courses of action.

Kevin Manning, Subject Chair for Sport and Health Sciences 2014/15, has run a Students as Change Agents project aiming to improve the experience of students at the St. Luke’s campus. Kevin explained why he started the project: “The main reason was… to coincide with the new South Cloisters development, and to try and act on the growing student disengagement, which seems to have been growing since the halls of residence on St. Luke's closed four years ago.”

In order to better understand the reasons for this disengagement, as well as what could be done about it, Kevin begun by developing a questionnaire. This focused on a number of issues specific to the St. Luke’s campus, primarily centred on student engagement. Kevin received assistance with the design and promotion of the questionnaire from Academic Representation Co-ordinator Charlie Rush, Academic Representation Manager James Smith, and the Student Staff Liaison Committee (SSLC) representative from Sports Sciences and the Medical School. The data compiled from this questionnaire may be the first actual St. Luke’s-specific data since the closure of the halls of residence.

Following the questionnaire, Kevin and Charlie Rush produced an interim report that outlined the key findings.

The data received matched Kevin’s expectations, particularly with regards to the growing sense of disengagement that he has perceived over the last four years. This interim report was sent to the involved SSLC reps, and then sent to relevant members of staff, for their feedback. The next step in the process will be to assess the feedback received from staff members, and place the assembled information into a final report. This will contain agreed targets and suggestions to address the issues the report has identified, and will be sent to relevant departments, including the Guild and the St. Luke’s Strategy Group. It is hoped that the findings and the actions implemented over the 2015/16 academic year will improve the student and staff experience on St. Luke’s campus.

The Study Abroad Buddy Scheme is a Students as Change Agents project, which aims to better inform students preparing for their year abroad, with regards to what to expect. The second year students will be paired with fourth year students who have recently returned from their year abroad. This will allow second year students to gain confidence, as well as giving them a person they can contact for advice before, during and after their year abroad.

The Buddy Scheme will be implemented in the 2015/16 academic year; the students involved who have recently finished a year abroad will be meeting with Student Staff Liaison Committee Chairs to assist with establishing the programme. So far there has already been one meeting between fourth and second year students to help prepare them for their year abroad.

Psychology student Luke Nightingale has embarked on a Change Agents project due to his experience as a non-school leaver at the University. He feels that mature students need more representation, access to support and guidance, and a better sense of community. With support from James Smith (Academic Representation Manager at the Students’ Guild) and Will Page (Student Engagement Officer), Luke aims to improve the University experience for mature students. In the last three years, there has been a dip in the number of mature students enrolled, and a rise in the percentage of drop-outs. Luke has carried out a survey and found that mature students often feel isolated from ‘the main group of students’. Also, they feel uncomfortable with the extension of the teaching day due to childcare difficulties or travelling long distances, and they often need additional support with time management or essay-writing. Luke’s project is in development, but so far he has been involved with trying to improve the scope of the Mature Students Society, in order to create a community that is accessible to everyone.

Alex Cornelius has begun work setting up a club that will give students experience in flying unmanned drones. This project has only just started, and so far the drones and necessary equipment for the club have been purchased for use at the beginning of the 2015/16 academic year. The students in the club have also assisted with building a drone with the Environment and Sustainability Institute. The drones will be used to capture footage of the Penryn area for the purposes of Geography and Environmental Science projects, such as land use.

Thomas Kent, a second year Zoology student with a study year abroad, has set up a Students as Change Agents project to allow students to volunteer at Windmill Farm, a Cornwall Wildlife Trust (CWT) Nature Reserve on the Lizard. Thomas set up a Facebook group to generate interest, and to keep volunteers informed of the progress of the project; the group currently has 142 members. In February, around 15 students visited the site and were involved with habitat management in the meadow, giving them valuable work experience.

Unfortunately, due to weather and minibus issues, the students were only able to attend the site once. However, through the links established by this project, the students were also able to spend a day volunteering on the Lizard National Nature Reserve with Natural England. At this site they undertook clearance work to create a pathway ready for board walks to be laid for a new nature trail for visiting school groups.

Beth Williams and Fran Mobbs, second year Clinical Psychology students, are creating a Wellbeing Information Directory (WID), with the assistance of Student Engagement Officer, Will Page and Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Dr Louise Pendry. It is an ongoing process, in which they have surveyed students to collect data about how they use (or do not use) Wellbeing Services. Surveyed responses included the fact that students wanted better access to services such as Mind and Talk to Frank, as well as more information about the University’s own Wellbeing Services. The aim of this project is to better inform students with regards to emotional and mental health support services, internally and external to the University. They also want a strong focus of this directory to further assist international students. Beth and Fran have created a Flow Chart that they will turn into a navigation system on a webpage with easy-to-answer questions that direct students to the services they need. The key to this project is accessibility; at least one service under each question is a University service, a contactable by phone service, a web based service and a self-help service.

They are also in talks to develop a ‘I need help now’ button for emergency support. The project will continue into the next academic year, and Beth and Fran intend to address the legacy of this project. This may lead to the creation of an app, or extension to the iExeter app, to further develop accessibility.

The Wild Film Festival is a collaborative project organised by a committee of students and staff from the College of Life and Environmental Sciences (CLES), EcoSoc, and WildDocSoc. The event allowed students, staff, and the public to submit films and photography with an environmental theme to several competition categories, which were then exhibited at an evening event at The Poly in Falmouth. The team organising the event was formed of students from different spheres. Fom CLES, there was Hattie Lavendar, the lead organiser and programme designer, Lauren Jackson, who sourced props and assisted with organisation, and Meike Simms and Molly Meadows who also undertook general organisation duties. From WildDocSoc, Celine Gamble presented the evening event, along with Ethan Wrigglesworth and Peter Cooper, and assisted with organisation and the programme. Russell Barnett photographed the event and also assisted with organisation. Finally, from EcoSoc, Peter Coles assisted with organising and promotion, and Oscar Furness ran the photo competition. Tilda Dunn premiered the Women in Science film, Matthew Davis and Sarah Biddiscombe produced a Natural Selection podcast of the event and Emma Dwan brought the NatureWatch team along to reveal their first episode.

12 films were shown on the night over three hours; there was also an interval for the attendees to look at exhibits. The overall winner of the film competition was Jasmine Corbett with her film ‘Marine Conservation Zones – Save Our Seas’. This film won the Conservation category, and the winners for the other categories were as follows: Behaviour - Kristian Parton ‘The Southern Continent: A Journey to Antarctica’; Expedition - Dave Cornthwaite ‘The MartyCircumSUP - Around Martinique by Stand Up Paddleboard’; and Vishal Jadhav won the Cinematography category with ‘Elements’.

The event was run with the assistance of staff leads Ben Toulson, Stephanie Wheeler and Owen Greenwood. The preparation for this event saw the team committing at least an hour per week since Christmas, and several hours per day in the final two to three weeks, towards the successful running of the event. They were assisted with funding from the Annual Fund. They also maintained a strong presence on social media with their Facebook event page engaging over two hundred people.

The category winners can be found at the following links: ‘Marine Conservation Zones – Save Our Seas’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRHJ7WFFYXQ ‘The Southern Continent: A Journey to Antarctica’ - http://youtu.be/gaJnCQDPhYo ‘The MartyCircumSUP – Around Martinique by Stand Up Paddleboard’ - https://vimeo.com/120487736 ‘Elements’ - https://vimeo.com/115894336

THE COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES In total, there were 16 Students as Change Agent projects within the College of Social Sciences and International Studies. The projects were supported by Student Engagement staff Emily Barrett, Alice Chalk and Niobe Shaw. Projects covered STEM skills, political engagement at local, national and international levels, intercultural communication, research methods, Study Abroad, employability, social media and gender equality.

This project, set to begin in September 2015, will see students outside of STEM subjects offered the opportunity for peer supported coding lessons. It is hoped that participants will enjoy the employability benefits that knowledge of coding can bring, and that they may develop a further interest in this pursuit. The team of PPE and Computer Science students, comprised of Agata Siuchninska, James Woolcock, Ben Worsfold and Ecaterina Damian, have set up a Facebook page to generate interest; as well as keeping people up-to-date with proposed events and training sessions. This can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/ CodeStart-Exeter/1579836828933842?fref=photo

Pavel Kondov, a second year International Relations student, brought together a group of Social Sciences students for this project. As a Bulgarian national, Pavel aimed to enable local Bulgarian students and citizens to vote in the recent Bulgarian General Elections, by creating a voting station in Exeter. For a voting station to be opened abroad, a minimum of 40 people need to submit a registration form expressing their wish to vote elsewhere.

Pavel and his team mobilised local Bulgarian citizens and students to participate, and secured 70 applications. This enabled a voting station to be opened in Devon.

Pavel liaised with the Bulgarian Embassy in London in order to secure a venue and find people willing to be members of the electoral committee. Five people were recruited, four of whom were University of Exeter students (Chair: Pavel Kondov, Vice Chair: Doroteya Kodzhanova, Secretary: Mila Cherneva and Emil Sokolov), and an Embassy Official who travelled to Exeter from London. Voting took place on the 5th of October 2014 in a hotel conference room in the centre of Exeter. Pavel explained: “On voting day, we had an impressive turnout of 177 voters, a result we are delighted with as we thought even optimistically we might get around 95 people… A lot of them shared with us how happy they were that they had the opportunity to vote in the elections.”

This is the first time a Bulgarian voting station has been opened in Exeter, and is therefore a historic moment. The initiative leaves a legacy – since more than 100 people voted, a voting station will be opened automatically for all national elections in the following five years. Professor Andrew Massey, Head of Politics at the University of Exeter, said: "I am both impressed and delighted with the initiative shown by Pavel Kondov and his colleagues at the University of Exeter. For those of us born and raised in the United Kingdom, scepticism with politics and politicians can all too often slide into cynicism. It is important to remember that genuine democracy is often hard to win and even harder to nurture.”

Michel Scholer, a Politics and International Studies student at the Penryn campus, has been interviewing researchers from a variety of UK universities to better understand how to carry out different styles of research.

Recruiting Dr Clare Saunders as the project’s staff lead, the interviews were videoed and will be promoted within the College and through social media for wider distribution. Travelling across the country to carry out his research, Michel has travelled to Oxford, Manchester, Essex, Kent and Southampton; as well as interviewing Exeter researchers at both Streatham and Penryn campuses. Each video focuses on a different method of research. Some examples are regression analysis, factor analysis and deductive block modelling. The project aims to educate students on how to carry out effective research, as well as making them aware of the different research methods that researchers use. The videos will be edited in September 2015, before release and promotion in October.

Elizabeth Menshikova, a first year International Relations student, has run a Students as Change Agents project to create a good practice guide for the use of e-mail. The guide was created using student feedback, seeking to address the efficiency of communication between staff and students. Speaking about her project, Elizabeth said, “I believe that communication is the key to success. Therefore, it is very important to ensure we are communicating effectively with each other so everyone can benefit from it.”

Analysing student feedback from a range of disciplines, Elizabeth created her guide with consideration for the types of issues students have with e-mails from staff. Her findings led to advice such as: breaking down the four types of e-mail, (self-fulfilling, action to be taken, enquiries requiring a response, and open-ended dialogue); the acronym KISS (Keep It Simple & Stupid), emphasising the need for short, concise e-mails and focusing on the facts; emphasising benefits, and finally utilising an easily readable format. It is hoped that Elizabeth’s project, once disseminated, will improve communication for both students and staff.

Pavel Kondov, a second year International Relations student, wanted to address etiquette when using technology in the classroom. To do this, he set up a Students as Change Agents project that aimed to: consult with staff and students on what constitutes good practice, establish a working group of students from CSSIS to gather student feedback, draft a report on the project, and run a campaign to promote the results.

It was quickly decided that technology could be a distraction in the classroom, but also an effective learning aid when used correctly. This led to a wider discussion concerning learning and teaching in the College, causing the project to widen its focus to a more general idea of good practice in teaching and learning. The project investigated what it means to be a student at the College: the proficiencies (high quality teaching, critical discussion, and diversity of students and staff), and the issues (rising student numbers, lack of individual relationships between staff and students, and variable lecture quality). A College-wide e-mail was sent out, requesting volunteers for a focus group, which helped to identify good teaching practice within lectures such as the involvement of short breaks. It was also identified that the students who responded took laptops to class, and felt they had a positive relationship with academic and professional staff. Pavel will mirror this student focus group with one composed of academics in the autumn term.

Using the information he has gathered, Pavel intends to implement his conclusions through methods such as: a heightened use and awareness of peer tutoring schemes; a blog for second and third year students, as well as alumni, to help share student-to-student advice; and a campaign concerning the potential drawbacks of using technology in the classroom and beyond. Finally, Pavel wishes to address the use of e-mail within the College, as feedback suggests students perceive them to be too frequent and too long.

Second year Politics and Sociology student, Subject Chair of Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology, and College Officer, James Winterbotham, has engaged students through surveys in the Q-Step Centre. The University’s Q-Step Centre uses cutting-edge quantitative research methods to engage in the study of substantive issues.

James’ project focused on the 2015 General Election as a pilot study. Noting the need to understand student preferences as an information source, he hoped to use the project as the basis of a possible permanent research panel of Exeter students. This would then form a resource for teaching students, as well as providing useful information to Student Staff Liaison Committees and academics on the subject of student preferences.

The survey consisted of a randomised sample of first and second year students, who were asked to complete a survey of 15 questions. These ranged from voting intentions and political compass, to questions testing psychological disposition. James liaised with various stakeholders throughout the University on a draft survey, utilising their suggestions to help his survey remain informative for all involved. From his student sample, James received a response rate of 20.4%. This, he realised, was due to the high level of email correspondence that goes to students, as well as the lack of an incentive to complete the survey.

Regardless, the survey produced a wealth of information including: where students ranked themselves in agreement with different political parties, the political preferences across genders, and where overall participants would rank themselves on the political spectrum. This project highlights the importance of collaboration between stakeholders where information is concerned, as well as the benefits of a research panel model. Moving forward, James would like to see additional work and token incentives offered to participants, in order to encourage greater levels of feedback, particularly concerning surveys that are perhaps not as obviously engaging as the General Election.

Jason Chang, a second year Sociology student, projectmanaged a group of students from CSSIS in his Global Exe project, culminating in a Forum Theatre performance.

Jason began work on the project in 2014 alongside cofounder Johanna Heit; according to Jason the aim was to “empower individuals through dialogue and understanding”. The idea of the interactive Forum Theatre performance was to help the audience better understand people from different cultures, due to the intercultural nature of Exeter. The experience aimed to assist people when confronted with issues arising from perceptions of different cultures, customs and behaviours, and to improve interactions throughout the University and beyond.

Over the past year, Jason and Johanna have worked with many students from different cultures and heritages, and a group was formed (Anna Frem, Rhiana Vowles, Nancy Stapleton, Jasper Ho and Divya Singh). The group spent two hours a week working practically towards the Forum Theatre event, and Jason and Johanna spent an extra two to three hours per week organising the event itself.

The Forum Theatre performance was well attended and audience feedback was extremely positive. Professor Wendy Robinson, Associate Dean (Education) for the College of Social Sciences and International Studies, commented that “this was a thought-provoking and highly stimulating event, which actively engaged the whole audience in the realities of achieving a truly diverse learning community in Exeter. I hope there are further opportunities for Global Exe to share its understandings with staff and students”.

Forum Theatre is a medium established by theatre practitioner Augusto Boal as part of the ‘Theatre of the Oppressed’. The performative style aims to break the barrier between the performers and the audience. To do this, actors or audience members could stop the performance at any given time and suggest what could be done differently to allow a character to achieve their goal. For the Global Exe project, audiences were presented with a scenario that highlighted oppression (such as racism or gender discrimination), and were invited to stop the performance and replace one of the actors; attempting to divert the course of interaction to lead to a more positive outcome.

Jason and his group are currently engaged with College staff and the Students’ Guild to further develop this project and expand into the local Exeter community.

Second year Law Subject Chair, Johannes Neumann (English and German Law), has produced a video of interviews with Exeter Law Alumni, to show the variety of careers that a degree in Law can lead to. It is hoped that all Law students (approximately 500) will benefit from this useful resource; it may also encourage students who do not wish to go into Law to explore other options that are open to them.

The video consists of interviews with three alumni. Firstly, Rhiannon Evans, who completed her degree in 2008 and continued into Law until 2010, when she joined the Metropolitan Police, focusing on project management and business analysis. She currently works at TFL as a Senior Business Analyst. Secondly, Katia Petros, who graduated in 2012 and currently works for Aplomb Translations, providing interpreting services to the legal, financial, and commercial sector, as a general manager. Finally, Johannes interviewed Abigail Phillpotts, who graduated in 2011 and after working as a paralegal for 18 months, started as a Commercial Graduate at Cavendish Nuclear, a subsidiary of Babcock. This position offers her experience in procurement, supply chain, legal and business development.

Using these examples, Johannes has shown how a degree in Law does not confine a student solely to that sector.

It is hoped that the video will be placed online and promoted in September 2015; the Career Zone will also have a copy to assist with enquiries from Law students.

Johannes Neumann, second year English and German Law student and Law Subject Chair, has run a Students as Change Agents project to enact the ‘Law NSS Action Plan’. The NSS (National Student Survey) Action Plan came about as a result of the 2013/14 NSS report. The aim of Johannes’ project was to decide what actions needed to be taken, and to implement the proposed changes.

With the assistance of other students and Director of Education, Dr Greta Bosch, Johannes set up a working group to better understand the NSS results, and prioritise the changes that could be made. Once these were decided on and implemented, the improvements were publicised through the ‘#YouSaidLawListened’ social media campaign. Amongst the improvements made by the Law Department and the SSLC, the NSS Action Group was listed as discussing communication (year based and branded e-mails), employability (timeline for employment provided by the department and exploration of employment beyond the commercial and legal sector), and assessment (skeleton answers on ELE and an explanation of processes within the three-week turnaround during assessments). Law has had a 69% response rate in the 2014/15 NSS in comparison to a 61% response rate in 2013/14. It is hoped that the results of the 2014/15 NSS will reflect the improvements across the department, which the NSS Action Group has been a part of.

Second year Philosophy student Olivia Stanley, has run a Students as Change Agents project aiming to help first year students living off-campus engage with University life. Working with the Guild’s Director of Membership Services, Gareth Oughton, Olivia aimed to make sure that all students, whether living on or off-campus, were given the opportunity to make the most of their university experience.

With an increase of students living independently, whether due to cost or other factors, Olivia felt it was important that information and support was available for these students, in line with the University’s aims. Olivia’s project has seen a change in the correspondence given to off-campus students at the beginning of the year, which includes a new style of ‘Welcome Pack’. The pack contains essential information regarding the resources and services offered by the University. There is also an ELE page dedicated to off-campus students, and a ‘Welcome Lunch’ was run in September 2014 to help new students adjust to student life.

Liz Atkins, a first year Politics and International Relations student, aimed to improve student engagement with British Politics by providing essential information that gave her audience a solid introduction to the framework of the electoral process. To achieve this, Liz created ‘The Basics of British Politics - your guide to the General Election’ - an online pamphlet explaining what constitutes a Government; a Parliament; the different types of elections and key information concerning the General Election. With voter apathy on the rise, the 18 to 24 year old demographic has consistently been below every other age group with regards to casting their ballot since the 1970s. Liz felt that to tackle this issue, the root cause must first be addressed, which she believes, lies in education.

Explaining her decision to run her project, Liz said: “One thing I’m really passionate about is young people’s participation in politics. I think the main issue is the fact that... we’re not taught about politics in school. Unless you have parents who are interested in politics or unless you actively pursue an interest in politics, you can get to age 19 and 20, be at a Russell Group University and still not know what an MP is or what your vote actually counts towards.”

Liz liaised with students to find out how she could best convey her message and decided to utilise a combination of printed and online resources as a platform that was accessible for students. The pamphlet was formatted and designed by Niobe Shaw (Student Engagement and Programme Support for the College) who assisted with coordinating the project. Alongside this, Liz utilised social media to advertise her project and linked to the project from her blog ‘Why Every Woman Should…’. Liz’s blog has been viewed by people in over 20 different countries, which demonstrates the opportunity for the dissemination of information amongst large groups of people via online platforms. 50 hard copies of the pamphlet were printed and distributed by the Politics Society at the General Election Expo, (attended by four prospective MP candidates), to help inform students of the project.

Liz’s project demonstrates how students can engage with current events on their own initiative and aim to make real, impacting change within their community. You can find Liz’s pamphlet at the following web address: http:// issuu.com/ssissacaproject/docs/the_basics_of_british_politics, and her blog here: https:// whyeverywomanshould.wordpress.com/

First year Law students, Jacques Stivala and Luiz Gustavo de Miranda Rosa Marques, have run a Students as Change Agents project to look into whether Law students would like more Study Abroad placement opportunities.

With the assistance of Niobe Shaw (Student Engagement and Programme Support), the two spent ten hours organising and participating in a discussion between students, the Law School, and the Study Abroad Office.

During this, they explored the different options available for expanding the number of places, and the available locations. The outcome of this discussion is now being reviewed by the Law School, with any outcomes regarding year abroad structures to be considered during the 2015/16 academic year.

Building on the success of The Exeter Economics Forum, Charlie Evans (Economics and Politics) ran a Students as Change Agents project aimed at replicating this resource for Politics students. The Exeter Politics Forum, a Facebook group, provides an online space for these students to receive academic support from their peers. Set up prior to the exam period, the group benefits every student involved, as someone may ask a question that another was struggling with. In this way, the group serves as a support network and a platform to share ideas and understanding. The group has proven popular with 94 members and a high quantity of posts since its creation. The group can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/844637008939928/?fref=ts

Second year Sociology student Jason Chang, second year Flexible Combined Honours student Ciaran Daly, and third year Philosophy and Sociology student Gemma Joyce, have produced an online Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology (SPA) blog. SPA Undergraduate News shares the latest news, interviews and events from both students and staff within the department.

The project aims to strengthen communication between students and staff within the department, whilst also providing a platform to disseminate department news across the University. The three are assisted with this by Director of Education and Lecturer, Dr. Dana WilsonKovacs. The blog details student-led interviews with various figures from within the College, including lecturers and academic representatives. The blog has produced a strong sense of community within the department, and has given students an informative overview of the interests of their lecturers and their peers. The three students have currently invested around 35 hours each into the project, and this has produced a strong social media presence with 91 likes on their Facebook page, 30 followers on Twitter, and 2050 views on the blog itself.

The blog can be found here: http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/sociologyphilosophyanthropologyundergraduatenews/

Chloe Turner-Bloom, a second year Law student, is running a Students as Change Agents project that aims to improve gender equality within Law. Chloe wishes to address an imbalance for women working in the legal profession, as well as raising awareness of the masculine bias of the law. Through creating a network of students, academics and professionals who share an interest in this project, it is hoped that a variety of talks and workshops can be run; these would have the added benefit of covering topics that are not covered within the Law School curriculum.

This series of events will be supplemented by a strong social media presence, which combined with the events themselves, will hopefully generate further interest in this topic. Chloe’s long-term goal is to spark a change in perspective for Exeter Law graduates, which will be taken with them into their future careers. Further, the introduction of alumni, professionals and law firms through the project will provide a great opportunity for students to network. Chloe has already drafted a timeline to take this project forward into the 2015/16 academic year; the first step will be to recruit a committee, then to organise the numerous events that she has planned for the year.

Amongst Law students, there has been a demand for more information on employability. This led to first year Law student Nicole Chen organising a CV writing workshop, advising students on how to write a successful CV in order to procure a future career. Nicole worked for five hours to organise the event, and was assisted by Programme Support and Student Engagement Assistant Alice Chalk, and Careers Consultant Mark Armitage.

The workshop took place on Tuesday 27th of January; five people participated in the event and gave positive feedback. It was surprising after such a high demand from the student body that the number of participants did not reflect this, however, this may have been due to the time of the workshop (09:00-10:00am).

THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER MEDICAL SCHOOL

This year, one Students as Change Agent project took place within the University of Exeter Medical School.

With the assistance of James Mitchell, the student-led initiative involved a Peer Support scheme, assisting students within the Medical Imaging programme.

Third year Radiography student Craig Barnes led a Students as Change Agents project focused on providing peer support to Medical Imaging (MI) students who are due to go on their first year placements. The sessions aim to foster the necessary skills and confidence for these students to succeed. Over their three year course, these students will be given placements in a different site each year from the University of Exeter’s range of placement hospitals: Barnstaple, Bournemouth, Plymouth, Dorchester, Poole, Exeter, Taunton, Torbay, Truro and Yeovil. The placements ensure that students gain practical hands-on experience and do not exclusively learn in the lecture theatre. The combination of teaching styles will then produce more competent, and indeed employable, graduates.

Craig was assisted with the set-up of these peer-led seminars by Karen Knapp (Associate Professor in Musculoskeletal Imagining) and Sue McAnulla (Academic Lead for Medical Imaging). Roughly 30 hours of work has gone into these sessions, and seeing 65 attendees since they have been running. The response has been positive, with students stating that these sessions are already increasing their confidence. Although there has been no formal assessment of feedback on the sessions, verbal feedback has led to the initiative becoming a fixture every year. Staff support for the scheme has also been positive, with students encouraged to attend the sessions as though they were a standard requirement for their modules.

THE STUDENTS’ GUILD RESEARCH FELLOWS In order to enhance the research environment at the University of Exeter, a strong postgraduate research (PGR) community is essential. The Students’ Guild Research Fellows, with the support of James Smith, offers guidance for students who want to carry out research on issues that affect them. This year, the Research Fellows carried out three Students as Change Agents projects, on the topics of research conferences and creating supportive communities for postgraduate students.

This Research Fellows project, utilising funding granted by the Annual Fund, aimed to research, understand and tackle the sense of isolation felt by many PhD students. It was felt that there was a lack of community amongst PhD students, who often live away from campus, as well as a lack of opportunities to interact with peers beyond their academic discipline.

This is an ongoing project that aims to recommend possible steps to develop a supportive community, which would last throughout a student’s time at university, beginning in the 2015/16 academic year. The Postgraduate Society have identified some issues that are impacting PhD students, these include: a lack of social induction, correspondence from the Students’ Guild having little relevance to them, and an inconsistency in community support.

The project has helped the Students’ Guild change its approach towards PhD students; they aim to introduce PhD induction packs, a new PGR mailing list, and a revised brand for PhD students. These implementations will also inform how the Postgraduate Society engages with its members next year. There have been suggestions of socially focused events, aimed at encouraging PhD students from different disciplines to mix during a first term social event. Further ideas include multi-disciplinary events focusing on research that also provide a chance to socialise for participants. The University and the Students’ Guild are currently discussing implementation for the upcoming academic year.

The Graduate School of Education Conference was a joint venture organised by both staff and students, with support from the Students’ Guild Research Fellows initiative. The conference brought together postgraduate students and researchers, with leading practitioners and academics from different disciplines to facilitate the sharing of ideas and interests. The Graduate School of Education has one of the highest proportions of PhD distance learning students at the University; it was therefore hoped that the conference would help these students feel more engaged with university life.

The event saw high levels of attendance as the organising panel had implemented a series of new initiatives to encourage participation, such as prizes for ‘best paper’ and ‘best poster’; a video link so distance learners could present papers; an ‘Arabian corner’ where participants could sample Arab culture; free dinner for presenters at Buffet City, and conference certificates for presenters and attendees.

The event saw over 70 papers presented, and Dr Julia Gillen was the KeyNote speaker. Julia is the Director of the Lancaster Literacy Research Centre and Senior Lecturer in Digital Literacies in the Department of Linguistics and English Language at Lancaster University, and she presented the paper ‘The Edwardian Postcard: how studying a revolutionary social networking literacy practice of the early twentieth century can illuminate contemporary research’.

The Humanities PGR Conference was a student-led initiative, which aimed to bring together Humanities students under the theme of ‘Knowledge and Connections’. The student organisers gained support from the Students’ Guild Research Fellows scheme to grow the conference and to help it develop as a model of best practice for others to learn from.

The conference saw students presenting to their peers and gaining valuable experience in an academic setting. KeyNote speeches were delivered on both days of the conference. The first, on March 30th, was given by Professor Ilan Pappé ‘Narrating the Nation: Historiography in the age of Nationalism’.

On March 31st, Professor Chen Yinchi, the Director of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Fudan University, spoke on ‘The Geographical Expansion of Literary Activity: A Short Review’.

Running over two days and with more than 65 papers presented, the conference gave many PGR students the ability to showcase their research and receive input from their peers and academics. The conference also served as a potential model for any other conferences that may run in the future, with the feedback and experience of both spectators and participants being of great use to any similar projects proposed.

The conference not only gave participants a chance to engage with the academic world, but it also offered social opportunities such as dinner at Samuel Jones on the first day and a drinks reception at Queen’s Café.

A full programme for the two days, including all of the participants, their discipline and their subject matter, can be found here: https://intranet.exeter.ac.uk/humanities/media/universityofexeter/collegeofhumanities/intranet/ gradschoolactivities/HUMS_PGR_Conference_Programme_2015.docx

THE STUDENTS’ GREEN UNIT This year, there have been 17 Students as Change Agents projects run by the Students’ Guild Students’ Green Unit, with co-ordinators providing invaluable support, funding and training throughout the duration of these projects. The Green Unit are proud to be a part of the NUS Students’ Green Fund (funded by HEFCE). Projects covered environmental sustainability, animal welfare, food and water consumption, waste, recycling, re-usable products, biodiversity, climate change and environmental preservation.

Anyfin is Possible is a project that aims to raise awareness of, and tackle, the threat of unsustainable overfishing and trawling. Ran by Biological Sciences students Flora McCrone and Stephanie Shields, the project was a result of research findings that detailed how 80% of the fish consumed in the UK comes from only five species: tuna, haddock, salmon, cod and prawns. Funded by the Students’ Green Unit and supported by Co-ordinator OJ Freshwater, the project has gone from strength-to-strength over this academic year, culminating with the venture winning ‘Student-led Project of the Year’ at the University’s Guild Awards.

The project has a strong presence, both on campus and on social media, which has hugely strengthened the project’s ability to engage its target audience. Multiple events have captured the interest of students and staff, from fish-naming activities to the international ‘#fishface’ campaign, led by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The group was nominated as University of Exeter ambassadors for WWF and are pushing for the University to become MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) certified. This certification would show that the University buys and sells sustainable seafood as promoted by the MSC, and would allow the use of the MSC ecolabel. This would lead to the access of over one thousand certified suppliers as well as the opportunity to support and promote sustainable fishing.

Anyfin is Possible has a YouTube channel, which features interviews and recipes that use sustainable fish, a Facebook page with over 180 likes, a Twitter feed with 99 followers and also a blog that offers discussion and recipes. The use of multiple online platforms means this project is reaching as many people as possible, and demonstrates the hard work that has gone into the project. This was also recognised in January when the team presented their project at a HEFCE (Higher Education Funding Council for England) conference in London with the NUS (National Union of Students).

This project saw a resurrection of the traditional British Wassail (wæs hæl – ‘be you healthy’) on the Streatham Campus. A Wassail can refer both to the salute aforementioned and a hot mulled cider drunk traditionally at a Wassailing; a Southern English tradition that aims to ensure a fruitful apple harvest. The project was run in association with the Students’ Green Unit (Richard Falk – Research Co-ordinator) and formed part of Campus Artist in Residence Anne-Marie Culhane’s ‘Campus Almanac’ project. PhD Drama student Evelyn O’Malley acted as the student lead and creative assistant on the project, which involved raising awareness of our interdependence with the natural world.

The project drew in many volunteers from different backgrounds; musicians were required to create a new Wassailing song with a contemporary twist and students were also able to volunteer as wardens to help with the smooth running of the event. The Wassail was performed in the Community Garden in January and saw over 70 attendees, including students, staff and local residents. The Wassail involved singing (songs written by James Crowden and music by Tim Hill), local food and drink, and ceremonial aspects such as a hand-turned drinking cup (crafted by Anne-Marie and local woodturner John Fells from a piece of cherry tree felled on campus). Numerous testimonials from attendees have confirmed that the event was a success and provided a strong atmosphere of tradition and community.

As part of the ‘Sustainable Christmas Craft Fair’ event in The Forum on December 5th 2014, the Students’ Green Unit supported a workshop where students were encouraged to give old jumpers a new lease of life with a Christmas theme. Six student volunteers took part in the project that saw 24 students upcycling their jumpers. Four students assisted with the creation of the jumpers, which led to gaining skills in arts and crafts as well as forging connections with the Exeter Scrap Store Charity. The event also raised £54 for ‘Save the Children’ and allowed participants to explore the benefits of upcycling clothing from an environmental standpoint.

The Clean Green Protein project was set up by Chris Bryant (third year Business and Management student), Lucy Birt (Geography student) and Madeleine Morley (third year Economics students). It aims to show students how the food they consume impacts upon their carbon footprint. With the support of the Students’ Green Unit, they set up a stall in the forum where their peers could learn about how various foods impact upon the environment. To do this, the students used a spreadsheet to input the various foods that they consumed and compare this with the energy expenditure of a household appliance, e.g. a lightbulb.

The students were then asked to pledge to avoid high carbon food for a month. The pledges were broken down into levels (Bronze, Silver, and Gold) so that participants could make as much, or as little, change as they wanted.

Students were surveyed before and after taking this pledge to see if the information that they were given impacted on their eating habits. Of those that took the pledge, 65% kept to their aims. It was found that those who had broken their pledge only did it two to three times over the course of the month, which shows a change in behaviour in those taking part. The surveys also evidenced that a high level of respondents would make more of an effort to purchase low carbon food, showing that this project had a clear impact on the behaviour of its audience.

Visit the blog here: https://cleangreenprotein.wordpress.com/

The Cup for Life project, supported by the Students’ Green Unit, aims to encourage more sustainable drinking on campus through a campaign focusing on reusable cups. With 2.5 billion cups in the UK going to landfill each year, this project promotes the reusable cups available in Students’ Guild outlets across campus, as well as highlighting the discounts on hot drinks available at various cafes. All Students’ Guild outlets offer a 10% discount on hot drinks purchased using their Cup for Life, or 5% off when any reusable cup if used. The following outlets also offer 5% discounts on hot drinks purchased with a reusable cup: Costa, Roundhouse (Peter Chalk), La Touche (Business School), Sustain Café (XFI) and Cloisters (St. Luke’s). Not only are these cups more environmentally friendly compared to their paper counterparts, but over time students will actually save money by utilising these products.

Ex-bags was a successful project in the 2013-14 academic year, with reusable bags designed and produced by Rebecca Osmaston and Lizzie Lewis, supported by James McMahon from the Students’ Green Unit. The bags were available through the Guild Shop and Marketplace, as well as being offered for free in the library to assist students carrying large quantities of books. The iconic, unisex style led to a large number of sales, and the remaining bags are continuing to be sold at one-off events, such as the Fairtrade markets.

The reusability and utility of these products will hopefully reduce the amount of plastic bags on campus and may push students to use them when they do their weekly shops; turning pre-existing behaviours into positive action.

The Students’ Green Unit Exemas Veg project, run by Zara Clarke and Liam Crossling, began in May 2014 and successfully led to enough harvested vegetables to feed 40 people at St. Petrock’s charity for the homeless in December 2014. This project was made possible by the Exeter Community Garden.

The Exemas Waste project, ran by second year History student Beth Pendock and Charlie Dowden, aimed to tackle wastage over the 2014 Christmas period. With support from Callum Lynam (Students’ Green Unit), a series of successful events informed students about the amount of waste produced during this holiday, as well as suggestions on how best to reduce it. The two had a stall in the Forum during the ‘Sustainable Christmas Craft Fair’, where they engaged students with facts and figures relating to all types of waste, from food to wrapping paper. Fun activities were also on offer, such as guessing the number of brussels sprouts in a jar, which highlighted the large amount of waste produced at Christmas.

These events challenged negative behaviour and produced real, impactful change over this period. Beth and Charlie used this opportunity to set up an event to recycle Christmas cards in January. The December events clearly had a profound impact on their audience, as 1016 cards were collected and donated to a Marks and Spencer recycling scheme in support of The Woodland Trust. The number of cards donated was above and beyond the project leaders’ projections, and the amount recycled was enough for The Woodland Trust to plant a tree in recognition of the group’s efforts.

Go Green Week is an annual week of climate action run by People and Planet, a student network dedicated to campaigning to end world poverty, defend human rights, and protect the environment. Go Green Week 2015 ran between 23rd and 27th February at the University of Exeter; a week after the national campaign due to a clash with the Sabbatical Officer elections. This annual legacy project was picked up by second year English and Geography student Molly Aldam. Molly served on the Guild Council in the capacity of Environment and Ethics Officer, and with the support of James McMahon and OJ Freshwater (Behaviour Change Co-ordinators) of the Students’ Green Unit (SGU). A number of events were run over this period to highlight the impact of climate change and the action that can be taken to combat it.

There were a wide range of activities on offer: a poetry themed ‘Going Wildwards’ walk around Streatham campus, with eco-poetry PhD student Izzy Galleymore; an opportunity for 25 students to volunteer in the community garden (an event that also corresponded with the international event ‘Good Deeds Day 2015’); a lecture by Dr Stewart Barr (Associate Professor in Geography) ; a free film screening of ‘The Wisdom to Survive’ (where various leaders and activists from the realms of science, economics and spirituality discuss climate change), and a showcase of SGU projects. The wealth of events on offer is testament to the amount of work put into this project, with planning meetings occurring fortnightly for seven months prior to the actual event.

The Going Wildwards project has continued into its second year, encompassing multiple events and collaborating with various different societies including Mind Your Head, Meditation Society and Biology Society. The project seeks to help people escape from the human-constructed environment and engage with the natural world by highlighting the biodiversity of Streatham campus. Supported and funded by the Students’ Green Unit (SGU), Going Wildwards maintains a strong presence both on campus and through social media, with events being advertised through their Facebook and Twitter feeds. Fourth year Biosciences student Rachel West serves as the student lead on this project, with the assistance of SGU’s Richard Falk (Research Co-ordinator) and Inmaculada Adarves-Yorno (Senior Lecturer in Leadership Studies, Business School).

The project has received large amounts of support from exterior organisations such as the RSPB, and the team has also led projects away from campus, such as a trip to the Topsham Marshes. They have also involved their volunteers and attendees in surveys that aim to raise awareness of, and benefit, the environment around us; such as the ‘Big Garden Birdwatch’ and a ‘Relationship with Nature Research Study’. All events run have been well attended, which shows that the project offers an attractive opportunity to get into nature.

For more information on the project and the events run please visit: https://www.facebook.com/goingwildwards and https://twitter.com/GoingWildwards or http://www.exeterguild.org/greenunit/projects/goingwildwards/

The Green Glass project aims to examine student attitudes towards glass-recycling both on and off campus, and hopes to inspire students to increase the frequency of which they recycle glass. The project was led by Biological & Medicinal Chemistry student Kim Day, and Geography students James Benton and Robert Franklin. With the assistance of Caroline Yoe, Students’ Green Unit Co-ordinator, the students surveyed their peers on their recycling habits. The aim was to see if these could be improved by providing them with information, such as the life-cycle of glass bottles, in order to engage their audience.

Throughout the first term of the 2014/15 academic year, the students worked to plan the series of events they intended to run. This included liaising with the local council and visiting a local recycling facility to make sure the information they provided was factually correct. By the end of the second term, the group had engaged their fellow students with their subject matter and the results of the surveys were sent to the local council. The council are now using this information in order to decide where they could place new bottle banks to maximise accessibility for the student populace. Moreover, the council have noted that recycling behaviours improved over the course of the project with an increase in bottle bank usage. This clearly demonstrates that this project effectively engaged students, and hopefully this behaviour will be sustained and spread by those affected by it.

The last century has seen a steady decline in bee populations across the United Kingdom. Since 1900, 20 species have disappeared and the remaining 267 remain under threat. On top of this, since 1945, the UK has lost 97% of wildflower meadows, the best habitat for many species of bee. (Statistics taken from: Friends of the Earth (2014), ‘Creating Bee Worlds for The Bee Cause’, p.2.) In an effort to strengthen the bee population at the University of Exeter, third year English student Holly Dowle implemented a project aimed at raising awareness of bee populations on campus with the assistance of Christine Soper (Sustainability Co-ordinator for Psychology), Richard Falk (Research Co-ordinator at the Students’ Green Unit) and the Grounds Team’s Central Estate team.

The project has seen a variety of methods used in order to spread Holly’s message: stalls and demonstrations in the Forum, with an exhibition hive showing bees in an artificial habitat; a screening of the film ‘More Than Honey’ and the planting of wildflowers on campus to encourage pollination. The planting of wildflowers has seen certain parts of campus given ‘Bee World’ status from Friends of the Earth, the international network of environmental organisations.

Within a campaign run by the Royal Horticultural Society called ‘Green Streets: Better Lives’, a Students’ Green Unit project aimed to transform the Richmond Road area from a grey urban space into a beautiful garden. Richmond Road is part of the St. David’s ward, shared by residents and students alike who are working together using window boxes and pots, which will be filled with herbs, wildflowers, and grasses to decorate the street.

The project leaders (Tom Harman, Emma Cross, Damien Fieldhouse, Aimee Reeks and Alistair Wood) organised a ‘Day of Action’ on March 26th 2015, as well as an additional day on the 3rd July. This was supported by the St. David’s Neighbourhood Partnership and the St. David’s Primary School’s ‘Green Team’. It also received funding from the University of Exeter’s Community Warden scheme and Exeter City Council. The project was entered into the Britain in Bloom competition in July, with the judges visiting on the 9th day of the month.

The Slow Food on Campus Society aims to encourage the use of locally produced food, as well as educating students on how to reduce the amount of food they waste. As part of this, two members of the society, President Bethan Davies and Publicity and Events Manager Charlie Saunders, partnered with the Students’ Green Unit, to deliver ‘Slow Food Cooking Classes’ in The Terrace restaurant on campus. There were eight classes across the year; each focused on reducing food waste, such as teaching methods to use up stale bread. Assisted by Community and Co-ordinator Caroline Yoe, eight hours of work (including organisation, preparation and demonstration) went into each session.

The project is set to continue over the coming years with some changes, due to the cost required to host each session (a chef must always be in attendance for health and safety supervision). The project will adapt to conserve its budget, possibly by hosting fewer sessions next year.

The Think Outside the Bottle campaign has now been running for two consecutive years and follows on from the success of last year’s project. The campaign aims to raise awareness of the environmental impact of plastic water bottles, and what can be done to lessen this. Last year, research was undertaken by the project leads (Tom Jeffery, Nina Gillespie, Florence Cullerton and Elizabeth Greagg) to understand student attitudes towards plastic bottles and water consumption, as well as awareness of free water fountains on campus. The result of this research was the production of a reusable water bottle to prevent students from purchasing plastic water bottles; this would positively impact on the environment as well as being cost effective.

This year’s project aimed to go further. Florence Cullerson and Elizabeth Greagg, with support from the Students’ Green Unit, have continued to promote and sell the reusable water bottles, with the last of the original 177 bottles being sold on May 29th. The project is now focusing on increasing the use of water fountains on campus, through the creation of an interactive map of water fountain locations. This map will be built into the iExeter app, which will allow students to easily find their nearest fountain. This will save time and money, promote the use of campus facilities, and positively impact the climate and reduce landfill.

The Unisave project was created as part of a water security research initiative that was developed during the University of Exeter’s Grand Challenges week in May 2013. The project has continued this year to challenge preconceived notions of water usage, by posting statistics and water-saving tips to their Facebook and Twitter feeds. It aims to educate its audience on the amount of water wasted during everyday activities such as showering, washing up and flushing the toilet. The project continues to be run by Lucy Battersby and Katie Halls, with support from the Students’ Green Unit’s Callum Lynam (Operations Co-ordinator).

The team ran a ‘water week’ early in 2015, where they surveyed occupants of private halls of residence on their water use habits. They also encouraged these students to post photographs of themselves saving water, in order to help their audience grow and become more informed. The occupants were surveyed again after the week, with results showing that: there was a 12% increase in students taking less than five-minute showers, a 20% increase in students pressing the correct flushing button, and compared to last year’s participants there is a 12% increase in students already trying to reduce their water usage, or are willing to do so with appropriate guidance.

This project, led by student Barnaby Powell, aims to prevent edible food from going to landfill at the end of the final term of the academic year. ‘Yes We Can’ focuses on encouraging students leaving private halls of residence to donate their unwanted, nonperishable food to Exeter Food Bank. The project is supported by Callum Lynam (Operations Co-ordinator, Students’ Green Unit) and mentored by Community Liaison Officer Rory Cunningham.

The project has collection boxes set up in private halls (Northernhay, King Edward Studios, Point Exe, Northfield and Printworks), which the team then deliver to Exeter Food Bank. The Students’ Green Unit also tweets about the project and informs students outside of halls where their nearest drop-off point would be for donations. The response to the project has been incredibly positive, with large donations being made at each private hall; over 1000 litres of food has now been donated. These donations not only go towards helping those less-fortunate, but also save the environment from unnecessary landfill.

THE GREEN LIVING PROJECT (FXU)

In total, there have been eight Students as Change Agents projects ran by the Green Living Project at the Penryn campus. Co-ordinated by Stephen Murphy, all projects are student-led and supported through the FXU. A range of topics have been covered this year, with a focus on: sustainability, waste, global politics, local businesses, eco-spaces, recycling and the conservation of energy.

This Green Living Project initiative aims to introduce an alternative, local currency for the Falmouth and Penryn campuses. The drive behind this is to encourage users to support local businesses who will also adopt the currency, fuelling local trade and development. In this way, the currency stays within the community when utilised, as opposed to leaving the area as it could do if a transaction was made in British pounds through a supermarket chain.

There has been strong support for the initiative, with 14,500 FXUNCs paid out and spent at participating local businesses. Currently all Green Living Project purchases by students are made only in FXUNCs; this incentivises their use and introduces the idea of local currency to participating students. There has been a strong uptake of the currency amongst local, independent businesses and many currently accept FXUNCs, including FXU Resistance is Fertile Farmstall, Jam Cafe & record store, Howl Coffee House and Jaxon Surfboards as examples.

Independent State of Jungle (ISoJ) is a Green Living Project that will take place in Freshers’ Week 2015; a three day experience aimed at engaging students with local and global politics through the creation of their own virtual country. They will be assisted by academics and professionals to create a constitution and a draft agreement, which will be taken to the COP 21 (‘Conference of the Parties’); the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in Paris.

It is hoped that the simulation will engender interest in politics at a time where people are losing faith in the political system and its potential benefits in the spheres of climate change, social disintegration and the economy.

The simulation aims to provide participants with the opportunity to understand the obstacles that face the world today; they can tailor their new virtual country to tackle these problems. The event will take place at the site of the Jungle-Shed (the Penryn campus’ eco-friendly structure) amongst nature - a perfect place for participants to consider how to take action against climate change.

A variety of workshops, debates and lectures will take place over three days, with topics including self-sufficiency (‘Can we feed ourselves?’), the distribution of wealth and how we can improve and restore faith in the British political system. The project also hopes to attract a number of notable speakers, subject to availability and fee. The prospective candidates range from comedian and social commentator Russell Brand, to Patrick Bond, Director of the Centre for Civil Society, UKZN, Activist academic and leader in social justice. University academics have also shown interest in giving speeches at the simulation. The inclusion of notable and knowledgeable speakers will help to encourage interest and engage students from multiple disciplines.

The Jungle-Shed was constructed during the summer of 2014; the structure is an eco-build of straw-bales and cob and can be booked through FXU (Falmouth and Exeter Student’s Union) for eco-friendly meetings, events and activities. The Jungle-Shed is hidden away from campus buildings, near the allotments; this allows visitors to escape manmade constructions and enjoy a natural setting.

Jungle-Cafe is open every Wednesday afternoon from 1pm, offering free tea, music and activities. The site can also be used socially outside of these times for any who wish to get away from a busy modern life. The Jungle-Shed is inspired by the Jungle-House Project, a mobile centre for environmental activism, which began in Durban at COP17 (‘Conference of the Parties’ to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; UNFCCC).

Keep Your Cool is a student-led campaign run through FXU’s Green Living Project. The campaign aims to educate students about the damaging effects of bottled water on the environment and the body. The campaign uses infographics on its website and Facebook page to spread facts and figures to raise awareness of these varied issues with bottled water; not only its damage to the environment, but its toxicity, the price and its necessity.

The campaign also aims to have bottled water banned on Falmouth and Exeter University Cornwall campuses, through support from a Change.org petition. This campaign (‘Banti-Plasti-Abottle-Ution’) is now set to go to FXU referendum next academic year. To support this they have developed BPAfree, (a chemical used in plastic production that can leak from the material into the water), stainless steel water bottles. These can be purchased from the FXU Activities Office for between £5 and £7.50. Numerous events across the year have helped to raise the project’s profile: ‘Keep Your Kool’ pledges to avoid plastic throughout October 2014, water fountain signs around Falmouth campus (to be installed at Penryn), and eight beach cleans assisting ‘Surfers Against Sewage’. These events culminated in their end of year event: Kools vs Hotties party on 21st May (‘Hotties’ being a reusable cup also sold by FXU).

Further events are planned for the next academic year with more Kools and Hotties now being ordered as they have nearly sold out. The team also has a Fresher’s Week 2015 educational event currently being planned.

The Resistance is Fertile Farmstall is a student-run project, supported by the Green Living Project. The project aims to reconnect consumers with produce through sourcing locally-grown fruit and veg for purchase on campus. All transactions are made in FXUNC’s; this encourages the use of the local currency and also allows the produce to actually be more affordable than if it were sold in British pounds.

The stall will also help raise awareness of the condition of supermarket bought fruit and veg, which is often sprayed with toxins, grown in chemically rich soil, farmed through unethical means and travels miles before reaching the supermarkets, let alone the consumer. The placement of the stall, (Wednesdays 12-2pm outside the Stannery at Penryn Campus and Thursday 12-2pm outside Falmouth Campus Shop), provides easy access to the produce, removing the barrier of accessibility issues, which may keep students from buying locally produced fruit and veg.

Students are getting involved with an NUS Campaign that aims to reduce wasted electricity. The campaign involves taking pictures of unnecessary lighting (for instance during the day); students are then encouraged to upload these photos to the NUS site and check back later to see if it’s fixed. Those responsible for the light are encouraged to switch it off and then inform the NUS.

Team Cosy is a Green Living Project that aims to advise students how to conserve heat and energy in the winter months. They focus on efficiency, reducing the cost of bills and students’ environmental footprint. A team of Home Energy Assessors visit student properties when requested, to make sure the advice they have to offer is tailored to meet each student’s situation and needs.

The team is partnered with, and members have been trained by, Community Energy Plus (CEP), a charity and social enterprise aiming to provide advice, awareness and educational campaigns to households in Cornwall.

There has been a positive reception to this project with 60 home assessments carried out this year. The group also hit their carbon target reduction based on behavioural change.

Digital Detox, run by the Green Living Project, aims to address our arguably increasing disconnection from the natural world: Nature Deficit Disorder. This hypothesis by Richard Louv, from his 2005 book ‘Last Child in the Woods’, postulates that many behavioural problems (particularly amongst children) are a result of spending less time outdoors. Considering current drives towards a more sustainable style of living, the project wants to show what we are actually trying to save.

By getting students out into nature, away from central heating and mobile devices, it is hoped that they will engage with nature: enjoy the elements, the wildlife, and most importantly, have fun. The Digital Detox series will see five societies given £200 to host an environmentally themed event. A member of the society will be trained as an energy ambassador, learning information concerning energy saving on campus. They will then relay this information during the activity. Due to funding and the project stream, the project will be limited to students in halls of residence only. Ideas for events include, but are not limited to: woods parkour, meditation or Tai Chi in the forest, and foraging in different locations. Speaking about the project, Stephen Murphy, Green Living Project Coordinator, said “it’s a radical approach to energy saving that’s not happening anywhere else in the country. FXU is supporting cutting edge research and pioneering a new perspective on positive behaviour change with young adults.”

The Waster team are a student-driven initiative and a part of the Green Living Project. The team work to reduce unnecessary landfill and improve sustainability by going to halls of residence and collecting suitable food waste to be turned into compost. Such food waste includes vegetables, crushed egg shells, bread, salad leaves, garlic, cardboard, non-glossed paper and tea bags. This is all collected in green compost bins every Wednesday at 2pm from the halls, where it is then transported to the compost bays by the Jungle-Shed. The compost is then used on the allotments to grow a variety of fruit and vegetables.

This activity greatly lessens the carbon output of the halls as food waste decomposing in landfill releases methane gas, a greenhouse gas 25 times more powerful than CO2. Over this academic year, 15 tonnes of food waste has been diverted from landfill and made into compost for the allotments.

DISCIPLINE AND SOCIETY BASED VOLUNTEERING This year, Discipline and Society Based Volunteering groups have partnered with Students as Change Agents to bring about 19 projects. As part of the Exeter Student Volunteers group, and with the support and co-ordination from Ami Gibson, projects covered a variety of topics, including outreach, recycling and mentoring.

Students from the Medical School and Sports Science at the St. Luke’s campus are using their time to help support stroke survivors with their rehabilitation. The scheme, which takes place on Mondays (4:30pm-5:30pm) and Thursdays (10-11am) at St. Luke’s gym, involves light exercises and social support for up to 25 patients who have progressed beyond NHS care. Action After Stroke (AAS) is the student-led charity that has been formed through this project in 2012. The volunteers are from a range of abilities and assist patients with anything from stretching a limb or getting on a bike, to encouraging individuals to finish their exercises. The group co-ordinates through its Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ActionAfterStroke/info?tab=overview), where leaders post reminders about upcoming sessions, plan their social functions and nominate ‘members of the month’.

Founded by Michael Berry, a first year law student and self-employed paralegal with The Fostering Foundation, The Avolve project focuses on improving the prospects of children in care. One of the project’s fundamental aims is to give the child a voice, with regards to their aspiration, empowering these young people with the self-confidence to have an active role in deciding their future. As a care leaver himself, and from his position working with The Fostering Foundation, Michael believes that there is not enough being done and is striving to make a difference.

Avolve aims to improve pupil performance at GCSE level, with currently only 17.3% of children in care achieving five A*-C level grades. As GCSEs act, in general, as a deciding factor in our futures, it is important that young people are supported at this stage of their lives. Unfortunately, not all children have equal levels of opportunity and support.

To tackle this, Michael set up the ERA (Employability, Recreation, Academia) programme; a stage based model that works alongside plans utilised by the government. The aim was to cover what was missing in existing structures.

There is a visible difference between the plans set by Avolve and other PEPs (Personal Education Plans). The latter often focuses on targets, regional issues, and financial accountability; there is little appreciation for the child’s voice. Avolve actively engages children, pairing them with student mentors who academically tutor them and take them out for recreational activities. Mentors also encourage the children to take an interest in possible careers and establish a relationship with a chosen sector. This may be through arranging an hour-long placement, a day of work shadowing, or even a coffee meeting with an employee from the business. If the child is interested in taking their passion further, then their mentors can establish a career plan, identifying how educational and extra-curricular activities can develop their pathway. An example of this is the ‘Business Mentor Scheme’, which is run by Avolve to encourage members of the business community to be contacts for this type of support. Altogether, there is an emphasis on unlocking ‘underdeveloped ambition’ amongst these children.

The Avolve team is divided into three groups: expansions, marketing and mentoring, and has received further support from all sectors. Enactus, an international students entrepreneurial society, helped Michael set up the project through providing funding, contacts and networking. The Enactus committee oversee and evaluate all ongoing projects. Funding has been secured from ASDA, Ernst and Young, and Santander. Santander has also offered to match any money fundraised individually by the team. The Avolve Ball and Michael’s participation in Men’s Health’s ‘Survival of the Fittest’ run are two events that hope to raise money for the project. Support has also come through training for all volunteers by Teach First, which was funded by Enactus Exeter.

Michael has high hopes for the future of Avolve; research is going to be undertaken with the Psychology Department to speak with children in care about their circumstances. This process aims to produce qualitative results, remaining subjective to each child. It is hoped that this will produce an understanding of where children struggle and how they overcome it. Discipline and Society Based Volunteering projects can be found here: http:// www.exeterguild.org/esv/disciplinesocietyvolunteering/##avolve and for Enactus, here: http://enactus.org/

Students are taking part in a project established by Exeter Community Initiatives (ECI), a charity that has been operating in Exeter for over 20 years. The project, Exeter Community Bikes (ECB), sees old bikes given a new lease of life through recycling. Bikes are donated at their workshop in Harlequins Shopping Centre, where practical skills training is provided to vulnerable people, in order to repair and rebuild the bikes for resale. The student volunteers not only benefit from this hands-on experience in bike recycling, but also gain experience of working with vulnerable adults. This requires strong communication skills and may help the students prepare for a later career in care work or a similar sector.

All training is provided by ECI and the project is one that is mutually beneficial. Whilst the student volunteers learn career skills, so do the adults taking part. The development of a comfortable work environment and shared responsibility for all involved helps to foster self confidence amongst the participants, which will benefit them throughout their life.

Benjamin Andrews (Discipline and Society Linked Volunteering Co-ordinator) and Fae Krakowska (first year English Language and Literature with Spanish student) are leading an exclusive University pilot to assist NGOs map the most crisis-prone parts of the developing world.

The team use the open-source Missing Maps software to trace satellite images into street maps. These street maps are then annotated by those in the area who help provide street names and road quality, for example, to aid teams such as the British Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières to provide humanitarian aid and assist with prevention.

The maps are then returned to volunteers who create the final digital copies and upload them for free public use.

Such maps have been recently used to better understand parts of South Sudan where there has been conflict and crop failure, as well mapping parts of West Africa impacted by the Ebola outbreak.

Students from Theology, who are based within a Children’s Church in Countess Wear, are working with the children in a youth club environment. The activities range from arts and crafts to games, and this volunteering work will help the students to develop skills in working with children, as well as providing other extracurricular benefits.

As an extension of the ‘Care Homes Reading Project’, this project involves volunteers visiting local primary schools to help improve their pupils’ reading skills. The students involved need excellent communication skills and will gain experience of working with children, possibly encouraging an interest in and facilitating future careers in teaching or child care. All volunteers are DBS checked and members of Exeter Student Volunteers.

Exeter Dog Walkers was set up at the beginning of the 2014/15 academic year before coming into effect in the second term. The project allows students to give back to their community by walking dogs for members of the public. Those who are unable to walk their dog whether due to illness, injury or other circumstances benefit from students keeping their pets active. The students are also given an enjoyable experience, so the project is mutually beneficial for both parties. All volunteers need to undergo a DBS check, be a member of Exeter Student Volunteers and attend specific training.

Students from the French Society and Exeter Student Volunteers are volunteering at Stoke Hill Junior School in Exeter, teaching pupils about French culture. The interactions with pupils cover many aspects, including basic French phrases, the history of France and exploring French cuisine.

These activities are replicated by the Care Home Club, but involve the volunteers visiting local care homes and providing the same service, catered towards the residents.

Students who are members of Exeter Student Volunteers and studying Psychology are taking part in a project run

by Ami Gibson, Community Volunteering Co-ordinator at The Students’ Guild. The project, called Growth Mindset Mentoring, aims to encourage achievement amongst a group of ‘pupil premium’ students at a local school. The government classifies pupil premium students as those who are eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years. Those who have left local-authority care for whatever reason; adoption, a special guardianship order, a child arrangements order or a residence order, are also a part of this group. Schools receive funding dependant on circumstance (such as year of study), which goes towards helping these disadvantaged children.

Growth Mindset Mentoring focuses on the low self-esteem and lack of aspiration that often accompanies these children due to their unfortunate circumstances. By encouraging a ‘positive Growth Mindset’, it is hoped that pupils will become more driven to succeed and have more faith in their abilities. They do not solely focus on academic achievements, such as encouraging students to go to homework clubs, but also on embracing the extra-curricular activities that the school may have on offer. The volunteers visit the school once a week and are all DBS checked and chosen for their commitment to the project’s aims. They spend around 20 minutes during morning registration with the pupils, in the hopes that their encouragement will help secure a bright future for the students.

The Harry Potter Society at the University of Exeter has set up a Quidditch League at St. Luke’s High School. The project gives the pupils from the school the chance to experience an exciting new sport, as well as the ability to interact with new people. The pilot for this project ran in the 2013/2014 academic year and was so successful that the project has now become a fixture at St. Luke’s High School.

Members of the Maths Society, who are a part of Exeter Student Volunteers, are volunteering to assist pupils at St. Sidwell’s Primary School and St. Peter’s High School with crucial maths tutoring. Mathematics becomes an important skill throughout our lives, for example dealing with money for a business or personal finances. However, for some, this critical skill is hard to grasp. The volunteers spend their time tutoring those who struggle with Maths, in the hope of inspiring ability and self-confidence amongst their tutees. They also focus on those who excel in the subject to encourage them to strive for further achievement in this field, possibly fostering interest in the subject for later study or a career.

President of Drama Society, Grace Burnett, alongside Drama student volunteers and academics, is leading a project focused on running reminiscence groups for residents of the Old Rectory Care Home in Exeter, who are in the early stages dementia. A reminiscence group involves encouraging the participants to relive and discuss memories through a variety of stimuli. These range from open questions, to objects such as photographs and smells and textures. Small groups allow each participant to speak and listen, and the community aspect of this encourages their input. Such interactions help to improve self-confidence and a sense of wellbeing amongst the residents.

Volunteers are required to be studying a Drama degree and to be a member of Exeter Student Volunteers.

Robogals is an international, non-profit, student-led organisation that aims to see an increase in female participation in STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). To do this, Robogals arranges for university student volunteers to visit girls in primary and secondary education, to run workshops such as working with robotics.

The Exeter branch of the organisation is led by Amelia Mohammed with a passionate team of female engineers.

Through fun and educational activities, it is hoped that interest in engineering and robotics can be fostered in the young tutees to help close the gender gap in these subjects, at further study and career level.

Sexpression UK is a national organisation devoted to promote sex education in schools across the country.

Volunteers from local branches teach students on a variety of subjects, not solely about sex and relationships, but a diverse range of difficult topics such as discrimination, alcohol and drugs, self-harm and eating disorders. The volunteers of Sexpression Exeter are made up of students who are members of both the Medical School and Exeter Student Volunteers. These individuals give up their free time to help spread vital information concerning delicate topics, and provide open and accurate information to help better inform younger generations. The sessions provide education for 1116 year olds, which will hopefully help these pupils to not only better understand the topics covered, but also to feel more comfortable with the changes that their bodies will go through during this period.

Members of the University of Exeter’s Soul Choir society, who are Exeter Student Volunteers, are going to various locations across Exeter to perform their songs to students, local people and others in the hopes of generating interest in the Soul Choir genre of music. Past performances have taken place at a range of locations, such as St. Sidwell’s Community Centre and The Lodge Nursing Home. Over the next academic year efforts will be made to broaden the links across Exeter.

The Hispanic Society, led by its president Claire Harvey, has set up a project where members visit Stoke Hill Junior School to teach Spanish to the pupils. The volunteers visit the school monthly, but as members and volunteers for the club grow, the visits may become more frequent. This project offers an excellent opportunity for members to work with children and can be used as related experience, should they wish to pursue a career in education. It is also hoped that the club will foster an interest in Hispanic culture for the pupils involved. Volunteers must be members of both the Hispanic Society and Exeter Student Volunteers, and be DBS checked before taking part in this project.

Arts society, led by its president Chloe Parkin, is developing an after-school art club for pupils aged seven to eleven at St Thomas Primary School. The sessions are planned and led by the volunteers who teach a different art/craft at each session. The sessions run on a monthly basis, however the events have proven incredibly popular and successful, and the society hopes that volunteer interest will reach a level where more frequent sessions become viable. The sessions allow the volunteers to gain experience of working with pupils in a school setting, as well as providing a fun, engaging activity for the pupils involved.

Charlotte O’Halloran, Community Enterprise Officer of the Theatre-goers Society, has run a project alongside Exeter Student Volunteers, which aims to improve the lifestyle of elderly local residents. The Theatre Buddy Project sees a small group of volunteers take these residents to matinee performances at Exeter Northcott Theatre once or twice a term, allowing them to enjoy the delights of the theatre. Tickets are provided free of charge by the theatre to those who participate in this scheme, and the scheme is also supported by Woodhayes Nursing Home.

The medium of writing is crucial at all stages of life; from the first exams we take, it is a skill that is utilised daily from the moment learning begins. Writing is, however, a difficult skill to master and many children struggle to gain a high level of competence in this area, impacting not only on their academic performance but also their self-esteem.

The Writing Mentoring Project sees students who are a part of Exeter Student Volunteers and Creative Writing Society work with year nine or year eleven students in a one-to-one setting to support exam preparation, encourage self-confidence and to offer targeted support on areas of weakness. The sessions tend to last between 45-50 minutes, and it is hoped that these sessions will yield results both at exam time and in the future.

The volunteers must be DBS checked and also have participated in a bespoke Writing Mentor training session. This ensures that the volunteers are competent and knowledgeable when they meet the pupils, and the hours they spend gives them excellent experience of tutoring and working within a school setting.

DEVELOPING

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SHARE

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THINK

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CHANGE RESEARCH SUPPORT

IMPROVING

CARE STUDENTS

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IDEAS IMPLICATIONS COMMUNITYENGAGE CREATE