'What do you actually do?' | Imperial College Union

“What do you actually do?” is a question I often get asked (sometimes sceptically) as a sabbatical officer.

The official language is “represent student voice and lead ICU” but that’s not very descriptive and almost slightly mysterious (which explains the skepticism). Do we beg for votes in Spring and quietly run away with a £40K/ year salary in Summer?

TLDR, officer trustees are the ultimate student rep. We take feedback from students, course reps, elected officers and bring it directly to university and union leadership - on everything ranging from bursary amounts to shuttle buses.

You might’ve spoken to your course rep or seen them send surveys to your cohort chat asking for module feedback. Course reps relay cohort feedback onto the department. Officer Trustees relay all students’ feedback to the university, and often senior leadership of Imperial, on matters not just about how your course is run, but extending to things like (for my role) how bursary amounts are set, asking the university to extend their shuttle bus services, make consent education in-person, etc.

My manifesto tracking page shows you exactly what I’m working on and my progress on it.

I’ve reviewed my calendar for the past 8 months and here’s a breakdown on how I’ve spent my time:

Pie Chart of how Anson spends their time. 3.3% Interviews/Disciplinary panels. 6.7% emails. 3.3% Training. 10% Day to Day Admin. 10% Imperial & ICU Committees. 6.7% Outreach. 30% DPW Regular Duties. 10% 1-2-1 Meetings. 20% Manifesto Projects.

Manifesto projects are what I’ve promised when I got elected
Representation and Liberation/Community Officer (LCO) related projects are my regular duties as Deputy President (Welfare), such as
- Reviewing our Examinations and Religious observance policy, and comparing it to other universities policies - Reps have raised concerns about Imperial’s policy to me
- Working with Liberation and Community Officers to respond to the University’s proposed changes to the wardening model
- Hosting the Liberation and wellbeing forum, where any student can bring a topic for discussion and mandate Officer Trustees to do things for you!
Imperial/ ICU Committees
- E.g. APSG - I worked with the Medic’s President and Working class officer and significantly increased the Imperial Bursary for Clinical Years students. I also worked to create the Commuter Students Working Group with a range of university stakeholders.
- E.g. ICU Board of Trustees - An opportunity for us to raise things to hold Union to account to its charitable objectives. E.g. Discussion on the Union’s digital systems (SUMS) and strategic decisions on summer series. We have ultimate responsibility for directing the affairs of ICU as a charity.
As trustees of the charity, we also sit on Union Disciplinary panels.
1-2-1 meetings are often used to raise feedback and get feelers or pointers on things that we want to change and how we could go about it
Outreach involves: numerous welcome talks at the beginning of the year, creating content for social media, writing blogs like this one
Emails and ad-hoc things include general student queries, writing nominations for union awards, making when2meet polls, reading papers and doing my own research in preparation for meetings, e.g. understanding what other University’s policies are for supporting students who are asylum seekers

Pushing for change at a senior level depends heavily on knowing what students actually think. Student opinion from surveys, forums, council meetings, or anything we hear from you more informally, are often the material I bring into rooms with university leadership. So if there’s anything you’d like to give feedback on, speak to your reps, email me, submit a request on SUggestions - just reach out, and we’ll get back to you!