The sudden catastrophe and fast movement of the Taliban in Afghanistan shocked the world. The evacuation of the USA opened the gate for the Taliban’s rapid movement to take over the country within few days, which was a dramatic change. People are leaving Afghanistan desperately. The shocking and horrific images of people rushing to catch up to the aeroplanes reminds me of the time when I was a child and the Taliban were taking cities. Everyone was running to take the bus, car, aeroplane, and even jump on the top of the buses and hang out of bus doors to skip from Taliban torchers. I stil ..read more

Since we heard that the swimming pool/ student facilities inside Student Central were going to be closed, after its sale to Birkbeck, we’ve been doing everything we can to make sure this vital space doesn’t go.  We started with an open letter to Birkbeck, signed by over 1300 people, with students all over London, along with people from the local community who use the pool, signing to tell Birkbeck their dissent with this decision. Unfortunately, our open letter got ignored and we were just issued a standard response by Birkbeck.  So today, we decided to take the campaign t ..read more

When I started as a Sabbatical Officer on the 1st July 2019, I had absolutely NO idea what my time as your Democracy, Operations and Community Officer would be like. I began excited, passionate and determined to make a difference here at UCL, and I still am (with less than a month left)! I became a sabb to make the student experience better at UCL (and to get more microwaves on campus). Through the last two years there has been a fundamental shift in how UCL considers the student experience and the vital role the Union has, and I eventually manged to get 4 new microwaves in Union&nb ..read more

During Women’s History Month celebrations, I hosted an inspiring conversation with a UCL Alumna Lena Fricker. In the recorded talk, we speak on life after UCL, career building, imposter syndrome and tackling male-dominated sectors. It was great to hear her talk about how she had made use of the resources available at UCL and used these skills as she went forward into the workplace. Lena graduated from UCL in 2019 with a BA in Geography. Since then, she’s worked at Transport for London and now PA Consulting. Lena specialises in Transport related work and has experience ..read more

During Women’s History Month celebrations the Women’s Officer hosted an inspiring conversation with a UCL Alumna Lena Fricker. In the recorded talk, they speak on life after UCL, career building, imposter syndrome and tackling male dominated sectors.  Lena graduated from UCL in 2019 with a BA in Geography. Since then, she’s worked at Transport for London and now PA Consulting. Lena specialises in Transport related work and has experience with stakeholder management and data-driven analysis. Lena co-founded a food startup called Recime and is a big advocate for Di ..read more

In the past few weeks, we’ve seen the Government’s roadmap out of lockdown in action, with outdoor sports and gyms being some of the first activities prioritised. It’s no surprise that this is the case, with the countless benefits to mental and physical health that sports and physical activity bring. There have been countless studies on the benefits of physical activity, which have shown that physical activity can increase self-esteem, reduce stress and anxiety, help prevent mental health problems and in general improve one’s quality of life. e.g. there is an approximately 20–30% lower r ..read more

Student Choice Award nominations are still open, and we want you to take the time to tell us who’s gone above and beyond this year and what they’ve done. The Student Choice Awards aren’t just about recognising excellent staff here at UCL, we use the feedback you give to lobby for changes. If you tell us through your nomination the reasons why staff have made your experience better, we’ll work UCL to roll out that across the whole university. Making education better for everyone. We’ve just released a new report will all the things you highlighted last year. This will be in the ..read more

I don’t even know where to start with writing this, I don’t know whether I should be here expressing my grief at the tragedies of these last few weeks, my relief that people are finally talking about this, or my anger that this is what it took for the country to take this seriously. I think I’m just tired. The ability to walk home at night without feeling unsafe shouldn’t be this hard. Survivors should be able to come forward without worrying about being blamed for their trauma. We should have the right to come together to mourn Sarah Everard. Women are constantly adjusting our beha ..read more

It’s that time of the year again, the Leadership Race is coming up. Not only is this the time where you can vote on who will lead the Students’ Union, but you can put yourself forward to be one of the people that students can vote for. Sabbatical officers are more important than ever, amplifying the voice of students and being involved in the huge decisions UCL makes, these roles really shape your experience as a student here. 2 years ago, I had a bad case of imposter syndrome; I didn’t think I would fit in, make the change I wanted to happen or even be a successful Sabb here at UCL ..read more

Hey everyone, I hope everyone’s well and is looking after themselves. I wanted to update everyone on an important project I’m working on and very passionate about, sports facilities at UCL.  During last year’s Leadership Race you elected me on a manifesto of improving our sports facilities - and I have made this position clear to UCL. The current sports ground owned by the union (Shenley) is too far away and impractical for students at UCL, resulting in additional spending on hiring external venues (money that could be spent improving our teams). These external venues are often not ..read more