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    Student Ambassador Update - December 2022

    A big warm welcome to all of our new BPS Student Ambassadors!

    22 December 2022

    We do hope your first few weeks within your role have been enjoyable and you are well on your way to planning some activities and initiatives. Just a reminder… your BPS Student Ambassadors packs are on their way to you this week, so keeps your eyes peeled for those (yes, they include hoodies!!). 

    Each month the careers team will end you an update regarding any news you need to be kept informed with, but this is also your opportunity to share the fantastic work you have been doing, please see below for details in how you can get involved. 

    Student Newsletter/The Psych-Talk Magazine

    We are very much looking forward to hearing what you have been getting on with and we would love to add this information to our Student Newsletter and our Psych-Talk magazine each month.

    If you are interested, please send over a short description of the type of activities you have been doing within your role so far, and perhaps some accompanying photos, to [email protected].  

    Student Ambassador Activity

    This is the space where we provide you with an update of each branch region activities. Please feel free to send over updates to us to include.

    For our first newsletter of the year, we will be introducing some of our new ambassadors.

    • East Midlands Branch - Chloe Ryding
    • East of England Branch - Holly Westgate
    • London and Home Counties Branch - Lloyd Emeka
    • North East of England Branch - Natasha Hoggard & Triece Turnbull
    • Northern Ireland Branch - Sinead Eccles
    • North West of England Branch - Andrea Stein & Kleanthis Neophytou
    • Scotland Branch - Robert Morris & Karen Twisleton
    • South West of England Branch - Angela Carter & Sarah Chesnutt
    • Wales Branch - Sharon Davis
    • Wessex Branch - Richard Pemberton
    • West Midlands Branch - Lawrence Moulin & Sarah Rose

    Updates from the Careers Team

    BPS Psychology Careers Festival 2022 

    The recordings from our recent Psychology Careers Festival which took place in November 2022 and is available access on BPS Learn.

    For those who signed up the festival an email was sent last week explaining how people can access the recordings free of charge.  If anyone missed the festival, they can also register to access the recordings on BPS Learn: https://learn.bps.org.uk/.   

    Visits

    Over the next academic year, the careers team plan to come to your region! We are in the process of scheduling dates to meet up with various universities in your region, and hope to use this as an opportunity to meet you.

    We will keep you all updated with any formal plans we arrange, but please do feel free to reach out to us should you require further information or support. Please be reminded that we will cover any travel costs incurred for you to meet with us. 

    Events for you to promote within your university

    Applied exercise psychology: psychological approaches to movement and health

    Whilst sport and exercise psychologists have traditionally focused on high performance sport, there is a growing interest in recent years on the application of psychology to improve physical activity engagement for the general public.

    This free-for-members event, delivered jointly with the British Association for Sport and Exercise Sciences, will discuss the application of "exercise psychology" within varied contexts, from the fitness industry, to health contexts, to weight management. Through case examples and practical insights, we hope to equip delegates with an understanding of how psychologists might play a role in promoting a healthy relationship with movement and an appreciation of the complexities of "exercise" for different groups. The session will be relevant both for trainee sport and exercise psychologists looking to increase their physical activity portfolio, and for students and psychologists from other fields looking to upskill in the area of physical activity and health. 

    How did you get that job in…

    At this session we'll be joined by Anna Bate, Contracts Manager for We Are With You's IAPT services. Since graduating with a BSc Hons in Psychology in 2007 Anna's career has taken a number of twists and turns- starting as a Psychology Assistant within the HM Prison Service and then joining IAPT and progressing her career in a less traditional way through IAPT.

    Anna is passionate about mental health care, about IAPT and about the importance of emotional intelligence and compassion within management. She would not be where I am today without my Psychology degree but also would never have guessed that this would be the journey she'd take with it!

    Research and Impact at the UK Parliament

    In this seminar, Dr Sarah Bunn from POST at the UK Parliament will describe how research is used in the UK Parliament and give researchers an overview and practical tips on engagement. In addition, Richard Remelie, a PhD student at Manchester Metropolitan University will talk about his three-month internship in POST and what he learned from the experience. Finally, the Chair of the Psychology of Education section, Dr Louise Taylor, will reflect on her experience of submitting written evidence to a select committee, and Dr Gayle Brewer, a PES committee member, will talk about her experience of giving verbal evidence. 

    Maths Anxiety and Statistics in Psychology

    Join us as we invite Cat Van Saarloos (Maths Education Initiative) and Professor Victoria Bourne (Royal Holloway, University of London) as we  take some more focused time to explore why some psychology students experience stress and anxiety when engaging with maths and statistics as part of their study.

    This event will allow participants to pose questions for the presenters and will also provide practical advice and guidance in relation to selected statistical tests, helping you to see how these can be applied in your learning. 

    Opportunities to get involved in

    Student Ambassadors Online Thread

    As you may be aware, we now have a live Student Ambassadors Thread on our student community!

    The thread is for any discussion between you as the newly appointed BPS Student Ambassadors and our fellow student members. 

    Thank you to those of you who have started to use the thread already, that is brilliant to see. 

    You are especially welcomed to use the thread to keep other members updated on what you have been doing, and to ask for any feedback about projects that you are working on in the role. Please find the link here.

    If you are struggling with this link, please access the community using the direct link: http://connect.bps.org.uk/students 

    To log in, please use your usual BPS username and password, and if you have any trouble logging in, contact us at [email protected].

    Drop In Sessions

    We will be in touch shortly in regards to the first drop-in session, which will take place in January 2023.

    This year we are going to be theming each of the monthly drop in sessions.

    January's drop-in will have the theme of supporting social media and we will be sending through details by the end of this week.

    Read more on these topics