Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a Students' Union Sabbatical Officer? Perhaps you fancied your chances running or reckoned, like me, you never stood a chance? Throw into the mix what it might be like to be a female sabbatical officer and you'll start to understand the many challenges and power structure our female student leaders often have to encounter. On this episode, I chat to Beth Eaton (Leeds University Union), Megan Ball (Winchester Students' Union) and Eve Alcock (University of Bath Students' Union) about how they came to enter the student union movement, the imposter syndr ..read more

Outside of the University bubble there is often additional work taking place with local stakeholders to ensure the impact of having a University on their doorstep is positive, fruitful and the best it can be. This is particularly true in large university cities where tensions can become strained in local neighbourhoods as long term residents and transient students learn to live side by side. In this episode, I speak with Cooper Healy from Manchester Student Homes and Amanda Jackson from the University of Leeds who take the time to share their many years of experience and knowledge gained. They ..read more

2021 has nearly come to an end and what a year it has been for those working in the world of Higher Education, Student Services and Student Affairs. The topic of Compassion Fatigue may be something you've never heard of or resonate with deeply and typically it is associated with those who work in healthcare professions. However, emerging research suggests that many working in the world of Higher Ed and in caring roles, will experience or have a tendency to experience Compassion Fatigue. In this episode, we chat with Sasha Masoomi, Assistant Director of Residence Life at Miami University in Oxf ..read more

This week Robert and Rebecca speak with Colum Cronin, the Senior International Officer at Dublin City University. Colum, who also spends some of his time as co-host of the Adventures in Advising podcast, spoke with us about the position and experiences of higher education in Ireland. It was a fascinating discussion about some of the unique challenges that the higher education sector experiences in Ireland compared to the UK, how the sector has changed over the past decade and what it might expect to see over the coming years as well. An episode that's interspersed with plenty or Irish-isms and ..read more

We've all experienced at one time in our life, a not so great boss. Or perhaps you aspire to be a leader or currently manage a large team of your own. Whatever your position or experience, we at the Free Food, Free Drinks pod believe there is a fundamental difference between a manager and a leader. Leaders inspire, motivate and develop individuals and teams to be their very best and so to discuss this topic in detail, we were delighted to chat to the passionate expert that is Mel Loizou. With 20 years experience in Higher Education herself, Mel understands the pressure and difficulties that co ..read more

For episode 17, Robert speaks with Sarah Cooper, a careers consultant at University of Bristol. Sarah specialises in careers support for Bristol's international students whilst also serving on the AGCAS Internationalisation Task Group, which develops and promotes good practise in careers support for international students across UK higher education institutions. She also acts as a committee member at UKCISA, helping to ensure international students and graduates have the best possible experience during their time in the UK. Sarah and Robert discuss how Sarah's role at Bristol works within the ..read more

Drugstraining.com was formed by Liam Watson in 1999 and is now one of the leading independent substance misuse training agencies in the U.K Liam has extensive experience in the drugs field and has been responsible for the development and implementation of a range of initiatives with drugs services, local authorities, police drugs squads, criminal justice, universities and commercial businesses. He was Chair of the Welsh Forum of Drug Specialists for five years and a Visiting Lecturer at the Department of Health and Social Care at the University of The West of England in Bristol. While working ..read more

Our latest episode is being released on University Mental Health Day 2021, an initiative run by Student Minds and UHMAN. The day is designed to inspire conversations and so we thought what better way to mark the day than to bring you this episode with Dr. Dominique Thompson. Dr. Dominique Thompson is an award winning GP, young people’s mental health expert, TEDx speaker, author and educator, with over 20 years of clinical experience caring for students, including as a police and expedition doctor, and as Director of Service at the University of Bristol Students’ Health Service. She was named B ..read more

Zak Liddell is the Head of Student Experience and Education at UCL and is passionate about including student voices at the start of decision making and throughout any process or conversation where their experience may be impacted or improved upon. He has a wonderful philosophy of education generally, something we touch upon in this episode but he also explains wonderfully how student affairs professionals and academics can work together to generate positive student outcomes. He is a graduate of Anglia Ruskin University and holds an MA in Student Affairs in Higher Education.  During the po ..read more

Happy new year everyone! Our first episode of 2021 covers Robert's own research that was recently submitted as his thesis for the MA Student Affairs in Higher Education.  In this episode, Robert discusses forced migrant students and their experience in UK higher education. Robert has worked with forced migrants at many levels of study in UK education, both at FE and HE. Over his time in education Robert has seen how forced migrants often have a very different experience of studying in the UK compared to almost every other 'category' of student and was impassioned during his Masters to res ..read more