Happy 50th Alumni Digest! We’ve all come a long way since our first edition in May 2020 – why not take a trip down memory lane and take a look back at that very first edition? In true 2020 style, it’s full of video call screenshots as we had to pivot to online delivery. Although we certainly made the best of it, there’s certainly lots of benefits to being able to deliver in-person!
Given the time of year, there are plenty of parallels with that first Digest, for example a celebration of the Vice Chancellor’s Social Impact awards in Cambridge. The video call in 2020 looked like a lot of fun but we think this year’s event might have been our best yet – keep reading for updated photos!
You might also notice an online Social Innovation Programme celebration. If you haven’t caught up with this year’s cohort yet, take a look at Operations and Activities Manager Amy’s blog on the 2024 event, still facilitated by Burges Salmon but with the advantage of being back in their lovely Bristol office space.
Now we’ve reflected on this Alumni Digest milestone and how far we’ve come since 2020, let’s head back to the present day – there are lots of good news stories to fill you in on (and they all happened this month!).
VCSIAs
Since the 2018/19 academic year, Cambridge Hub has worked with the university’s Vice Chancellor to celebrate students who have shown exceptional achievement in, and commitment to, creating positive social change. We received a huge number of incredible nominations this year, and the judges had tough decisions to make when it came to choosing winners!
The event was a huge success and we were delighted to hear from the winners in person and learn more about what they’ve been getting up to. For a list of this year’s winners please visit the Cambridge Hub webpage, and keep an eye on the Cambridge blog to learn more about each of the winners over the coming weeks.
Feedback in Bristol
This point in the year is largely reserved for collecting feedback from our programmes and reflecting on the work we’ve done over the last two terms. We were really pleased to publish Bristol Hub student Gunjan’s blog reflecting on her experience of the Social Innovation Programme.
After reviewing student feedback across all programmes, Bristol Hub staff member Luka shared that:
Lots of students mentioned building skills in confidence, communication and problem solving, and made comments about how it’s brought a lot to their student lives having something to do outside of their studies. It’s really nice to reflect on how volunteering positively impacts us!
Carbon Literacy Training
This piece of good news comes from my own firsthand experience! Earlier this year, the staff team were given the opportunity to sign up to take part in Carbon Literacy Project training. I immediately wanted to get involved – my background is in sustainability and I’ll never pass up an opportunity to keep learning! A few more of the Student Hubs team also signed up, and the training is being delivered to us by our very own Sophie.
Wanting to share the knowledge, we extended the invitation to our friends over at Student Minds, meaning each session has a great group of staff from both organisations learning from the course content and getting the chance to chat and complete interactive tasks. As I’m writing this we’ve had two sessions, and I can’t wait for the next one in a fortnight!
In the Spotlight
This month’s spotlight is on outgoing Cambridge Hub staff member Petia, who has been on quite the journey with Student Hubs!
Petia first got involved with Hub activities during her time as a PhD student at the University of Cambridge, taking part in Engage For Change. Petia noticed that as high-powered computers in her department started to slow down, they were often recycled immediately, so she focused her project around the reuse of this equipment in other departments before it was sent for recycling.
In the 2022/23 academic year Petia joined the Student Hubs staff team, running the year’s first cohort of Engage for Change. These were the first in-person sessions post-Covid so she had lots of input into supporting student engagement after the restrictions of the pandemic.
This academic year, Petia once again supported the setup of Engage for Change, sharing all her valuable learnings to help us to continually improve the programme. Most recently, she was responsible for organising and running the Vice Chancellor’s Social Impact Awards – and what a success the event was!
Petia’s roles with us have always been part-time alongside research and teaching roles at the University of Cambridge in her specialism of Structural Engineering. Next on her agenda is a Research Fellowship – also at Cambridge. In her own words:
My research will be on the design of lightweight structures such as airport roofs and stadium roofs and making structures like this more materially efficient [and/or] lower embodied carbon by changing the way that architects and engineers design them. I will also continue to lecture and teach engineering undergraduate students
Petia has been a fantastic member of the Student Hubs team and we’ll all miss her, but we can’t wait to see what she achieves in her Fellowship. Good luck from the whole SH team!
What to look out for
Hub Book Club
Our next meeting is on June 3rd at 7pm – we’ll be discussing The Most Good You Can Do by Peter Singer. If you’d like to join the discussion you can Register Your Interest on our Alumni page, or email Amy at amy.bond@studenthubs.org, and we will be in touch with joining instructions. If you don’t have time to read the book by the 3rd – fear not! Our next book has been decided, and you will be very welcome to join us in reading It’s Okay To Be Angry About Capitalism by Bernie Sanders, which we’ll discuss on July 1st.