Royal College of Science Union
The Royal College of Science Union represents all Undergraduates in the Faculty of Natural Sciences - the departments of Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Life Sciences. All roles on the Committee are part-time positions.
The following roles are available:
If you have any questions or would like more information about these roles, you can contact the RCSU President.
RCSU President
The RCSU President controls a budget of over £50,000, organising a range of academic, social, careers and pastoral events representing the interests of over 3200 Undergraduate students. You directly liaise with senior members of staff and sit on various College and imperial College Union committees. These include the Faculty of Natural Sciences Teaching Committee, Community & Welfare Board, Union Council, as well as others.
You are also directly responsible for managing a committee of 25 people to ensure the RCSU works to its best capabilities in representing students and working closely with the Faculty of Natural Sciences. Joint with the Honorary Treasurer, you will also manage the five departmental societies in the Faculty of Natural Sciences and ideally ensure inter-departmental relations are maintained. The President is also responsible for securing sponsorship with the Vice President (Operations) and developing strong bonds with sponsors, maintaining ties with the RCSA and ultimately oversees the work of the whole Committee.
This position is ideal for a confident team member and natural leader. It is imperative that you work professionally and with integrity, and are clear of what is required of each team member. You will also need excellent time management, especially if you wish to balance the presidency alongside your degree. This role requires a significant amount of work; however it is an exceptional learning experience and can be highly rewarding.
You can contact the current RCSU President, Michael Edwards, on rcsu.president@imperial.ac.uk.
Vice President (Operations)
The VPO is responsible for coordinating the procurement of sponsorship for the RCSU. In addition, the VPO chairs the Operations Board to ensure the services the RCSU provides - such as our website, social media and our magazine, Broadsheet - are the best they can be. You also oversee the academic and welfare branches of the RCSU. Please note that due to the timeframe in which several companies review sponsorship applications, you will be require to start work on this from Easter as the VPO-elect alongside the current VPO.
You can contact the current Vice President (Operations), Rebecca Neil, on rcsu.vpo@imperial.ac.uk
Vice President (Activities)
The VPA is in charge of organising events for the RCSU and encourages coordination between the Departmental Societies. You are also responsible for upholding the traditions of the Union. You chair the Entertainments Board, oversee all social events and liaise with the President and the Treasurer to ensure events stay within budget.
You can contact the current Vice President (Activities), Ayush Dharap, on rcsu.vpa@imperial.ac.uk
Vice President (Education)
The VPE sits on Union Council, Faculty of Natural Sciences Teaching Committee and Staff-Student committees, ensuring that the students of the Faculty are being fairly represented academically. You work closely with the Deputy President (Education), Academic Dep Reps and academic staff to improve teaching standards across the faculty. You will meet the Dep Reps frequently, and chair an Academic Affairs Committee to keep things ticking along smoothly.
This role succeeds the Academic Affairs Officer position. You can contact the current RSCU Academic Affairs Officer, Abhijay Sood, on rcsuaao@imperial.ac.uk.
Vice President (Welfare and Wellbeing)
As VPWW you will be required to organise welfare events across the year as well as the annual ‘RCSU Welfare Week’. You will work closely with the Deputy President (Welfare) and represent students on relevant Imperial College Union committees (Union Council and Community & Welfare Board). You will meet with students who require assistance individually, whilst ensuring any relevant welfare information is distributed to all students.
This role succeeds the Welfare Officer position. You can contact the current RSCU Welfare Officer, Shervin Sabeghi, on rcsu.welfare@imperial.ac.uk.
Honorary Secretary
The Hon. Sec. keeps minutes for all RCSU Meetings, and chairs any General Committee meeting. They also help with the organisation of activities of the Union, assist the Executive and any societies with any administration work, and assist with the running of the office. You are a key member of the team, so time management, organisational and communication skills are necessary.
You can contact the current RCSU Honorary Secretary, Michael Suarez, on rcsu.honsec@imperial.ac.uk.
Honorary Junior Treasurer
The HJT looks after the finances of the RCSU Exec and gives advice to the Departmental Society Chairs and Treasurers. You will also be required to do invoicing, budgeting and dealing with payment requests from suppliers.You will also oversee the expenditure and accounts of the Departmental Societies. You will be managing a huge budget so integrity, financial responsibility and enthusiasm to learn the Union’s finance system is necessary.
You can contact the current RCSU Honorary Junior Treasurer, Michael McGill, on rcsu.treasurer@imperial.ac.uk
Broadsheet Editor
The Broadsheet Editor is responsible for the RCSU’s termly magazine, Broadsheet, produced with the assistance of a team you will recruit. You will also need to prepare the Freshers’ Handbook which is to be distributed before the start of the academic year. Access to a modern iMac with Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator is available to help you with your very own publication.
You can contact the current RCSU Broadsheet Editor, Pranavi Agarwal, on broadsheet@imperial.ac.uk.
Events Officer
The Events Officer is responsible for helping to organise events. You’ll get to both improve the RCSU’s existing events, and come up with brand new events. You will play a key part in coming up with exciting ideas for the RCSU’s events, and will need to solicit opinions and feedback from the wider student body to make sure the RCSU’s events are what they are looking for.
You can contact the current RCSU Events Officer, Alex Crew, on rcsuevents@imperial.ac.uk.
Publicity Officer
The Publicity Officer is responsible for ensuring that all events are well attended and well publicised. Creativity, imagination, professionalism and organisation skills are necessary as although this role requires a significant amount of time, your work will be displayed to over 3,200 Undergraduate students. Access to a modern iMac with Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator is available to help you make some fantastic artwork.
You can contact the current RCSU Publicity Officer, Oscar Scrivens, on rcsu.publicity@imperial.ac.uk.
Web Communications Officer
The WCO maintains the RCSU website as well as designing the emails and other web-based communications of the RCSU. You will also be responsible for utilising the latest and most innovative frameworks to develop our online media. Excellent problem solving skills and an understanding and interest in web development is essential.
You can contact the current RCSU Web Communications Officer, Ivan Tang, on rcsweb@imperial.ac.uk.
Sports Officer
It is the role of the Sports Officer to help gather teams for Faculty competitions and tours across a range of sports. You will be responsible for organising fixtures and liaising with other faculties and sports clubs so organisation, teamwork and communication skills are necessary.
You can contact the current RCSU Sports Officer, Matthew Stone, on rcsu.sports@imperial.ac.uk.
RAG Champion/Officer
The RAG Champion is the officer responsible for coordinating fundraising events to help raise money for ICU RAG and other charities the RCSU decides to assist. You also get to help organise all manner of other events and come up with some charity focused ones. You sit on, but do not have a vote on, the ICU RAG committee to represent the RCSU’s members.
You can contact the current RCSU RAG Champion, Rohan Kamath, on rcsu.rag@imperial.ac.uk.
Science Challenge Chair
The Science Challenge Chair is responsible for the organisation and supervision of Science Challenge, the RCSU national essay writing competition. This includes organisation of the launch and final, creating a Science Challenge Committee and contacting potential judges. It will require you to heavily liaise with the Faculty of Natural Sciences and you should expect to start some groundwork for the event before your role officially begins. This requires significant time management, organisation and commitment, but is highly rewarding. Please note that due to the limited availability of high-profile judges, you will be required to start work in Easter to start planning next year’s competition.
You can contact the current RCSU Science Challenge Chair, Ansh Bhatnagar, on science.challenge@imperial.ac.uk.
Sponsorship and Alumni Officer
The Alumni and Sponsorship Officer will work with the Vice President (Operations) to secure external sponsorship and develop closer ties with alumni groups, to ensure the operations of the RCSU are funded and engage current and past students.
This is a new role for the 2018/19 academic year. You can contact the current RCSU President, Michael Edwards, on rcsu.president@imperial.ac.uk to find out more.