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    Student Ambassador Update - January 2023

    Hi Student Ambassadors and a happy New Year to you all.

    26 January 2023

    We are so pleased to see so many of you have started to carry out activities within your role and have shared some great examples in the update below.

    If you have met with your branch representatives, we hope you have found this useful and are working closely with them to give a student voice to their initiatives.  

    Student Newsletter/The Psych-Talk Magazine

    As a reminder, we love to share your work across our communication channels. If you have carried out an activity within your student ambassador role that you are particularly proud of, 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.  

    Ikra Hussain – University of Bradford

    Bradford have a refreshers event coming up where there will be a designated psychology society stall dedicated to the BPS. Additionally, Ikra will be working on a blog post within the next month regarding the BPS volunteer role. Ikra and some others has also created an app which is for university students, essentially it's about how to help with wellbeing and there is a blog area where they have opportunities to write about what they want and to promote the BPS on there for consistent engagement. Ikra is also planning to deliver a mini presentation about the BPS. 

    Sienna Wellington, Hannah Lillis and Emma Strong – University of Leeds

    All three Student Ambassadors have put posters up around the campus and in the psychology building to make people aware of who they are, providing their contact details so that students can contact them if they have any queries or ideas! They have also made a google forms (see link) to hear directly from students about what they want to see from the student ambassadors next term, what careers information they are interested in hearing about, and if they'd be interested in a monthly BPS newsletter with information about all things BPS! 

    The ambassadors also plan to meet with their director of careers and a member of the psychology careers team to discuss organising potential events with Leeds Alumni, who can come in and talk about their experiences with the BPS and share their experiences of studying psychology, and the career pathways they have ventured onto. 

    Eleanor Hayes – University of Newcastle

    Eleanor has given a talk at a Psychology careers event that her school of psychology organised, about the BPS. Eleanor is also hosting a zoom presentation that goes more in depth about the BPS and its upcoming career opportunities. 

    Ben Stonadge – Nottingham Trent University

    So far, as a student ambassador, Ben has been using his time to plan how he can reach out to the psychology community and spread word about the BPS. Ben has been collaborating with his fellow ambassadors at NT, and they have decided that visiting local high schools and giving talks about careers in psychology to year 11/12 students would be highly beneficial. The information they can provide about the BPS and psychology careers would be very useful to students making decisions about A level subjects and Degrees. Ben also wants to do more around addressing what a career in psychology means to students studying psychology at his university.  

    The NTU Student Ambassadors have planned to establish a BPS society at NTU as they feel there is an opportunity to create an accessible community for advice and support for psychology students who are struggling. The existing psychology society at the university is much more social and offers no educational support or opportunity so we feel that our society would fill this gap. 

    Vlad Makar – University of Leicester

    Within the University of Leicester, Vlad has firstly wanted to focus on publicising the student ambassadors to the whole cohort in Psychology. Vlad is organising meetings with the psychology Department to teach them more about the student ambassador programme and if they can build projects with staff to teach students about the BPS. 

    Hannah Clayton – University of Wales Trinity Saint David

    Over the past month, Hannah has been spreading the word to fellow UWTSD students about becoming their new BPS ambassador, and preparing to set up a new social media page to talk all things BPS and Psychology, and network with other students and student ambassadors! The account was made live recently, with an introductory post, introducing Hannah and an overview of what the BPS is all about! Despite being the ambassador for UWTSD, Hannah hopes to inform and educate other students from across the UK!

    Catia Soares – Open University

    Catia spoke to the team at the Open University about allowing more information to be shared about the BPS and all the resources out there for students in the psychology field. Catia has also created an Instagram handle called @psych.talkwithc and Catia shares BPS information as well as other psychology related topics that help students on their journey.

    Charlotte Fleetwood and Myles Regester – University of Aberystwyth

    They are currently in the process of getting ready for the refreshers fair! They're excited to hand out flyers and talk to their fellow students about how amazing the BPS is and what it can do to help them in their studies and future careers. They have also started a monthly newsletter for the psychology students here at Aberystwyth! This monthly newsletter will give them new information on the BPS as well as keep them updated on events the BPS is having as well as any events we, the student ambassadors, have planned. 

    Samantha Smallwood – University of the Highlands and Islands

    After Samantha had completed the Student Ambassador training, Samantha was officially introduced to UHI psychology students as their BPS student ambassador via an announcement on Psychology hub on birghtspace. Samantha then held a psychology student open social online in December, which she found great to chat with a few other students. Samantha chose an online event so it was much more accessible and open to more students as UHI students tend to be spread far and wide, where in-person events can make some feel excluded.  

    Samantha has also updated the career section of her university platform with BPS career tube maps to help show students possible pathways to a chosen career - Samantha loves the maps for a great visual aid and plans to have them printed and laminated to use at any open days. Samantha is also going to gain some feedback from students about what they currently know about BPS student membership, and will then start to advocate student membership further.  

    Jana Tomastikova – University of Edinburgh

    Hi fellow ambassadors and other psychology enthusiasts! This is Jana, the BPS ambassador from the University of Edinburgh. The second semester is now in full swing here at the University and so are many opportunities for psychology students to meet each other again. As part of my role as the president of the Psychology Society and a BPS ambassador, we have managed to organize a few events at the start of the year. Here are some of them: 

    • Psychology Pub Social: Edinburgh students meet Trinity College Dublin students! 
    • Welcome Week Psychology Stall - promoting our society and introducing the BPS 
    • Life as a Master's student in psychology Panel Discussion - all things about further study in psychology from current Master's students

    I wish I had pictures from the events to accompany the description but I completely forgot to save all the instagram stories (I will learn from my mistakes for next time!). That's all from me!  

    Emaline Hamnett – University of Winchester

    Emaline has been communicating with her careers hub team and discussing how they can spread the word of the BPS more. Emaline has found that students have requested to hear more about the BPS, therefore Emaline has secured a slot in the next Psychology Futures Fair to discuss this with those who attend. Emaline has also managed to get her BOS branch chair to attend this as well in case students have further questions.  

    Emaline will also be making monthly updates at her universities Programme Leader Updates reminding people of her position and if they have any questions.

    Amaan Iqbal Ibrahim – University of Birmingham Dubai

    Amaan has liaised with their Lead Tutor and would be speaking to their peers at the Psyched@UoB event they hold, as part of the Psychology Department's efforts to help spread the word. Amaan will be preparing a presentation and speaking to the students with reference to the points and information they have been provided on the Teams site. 

    Amaliah Saffron – University of Birmingham

    During the 30th-3rd of February, Amaliah will also be partaking in the School of Psychology's Psyched@UOB Festival week. This will provide many students with an opportunity to engage with the BPS student ambassadors of the university and learn about the school of psychology and what it has to offer. Over the course of the week, a multitude of events will take place that students can register and attend. Amaliah will be aiming to attend most to show support of the school of psychology and represent the BPS. The other fellow BPS ambassadors and Amaliah have arranged two dates within the week to allow students to meet them and allows them a chance to inform students of how they and the BPS can support them as well as spreading information about the BPS.  

    Agnieszka Chrapek – Aston university

    Since becoming a student ambassador at the beginning of this academic year, Agnieszka has felt inspired to share knowledge, as well as inspire others to pursue Psychology. Agnieszka began making infographics, as a way to promote the BPS and encourage others to engage in Psychology, either as a career or for fun.

    Carolina Nyakila and Hanaa Khan - Brunel University London

    Carolina and Hanaa created a display stand for their weekly coffee corner where psychology students and staff can come and visit some information about what the BPS is, how they can help and who their BPS Ambassadors are. 

    Dhishana Kidambi, Sharlene Loh, Yizhuo Liu, Sarah Afzal Puthuparackat, Abraham Clark – University of Bristol

    In the past month, the Bristol Student Ambassadors have used their time to generate some ideas about the things they would like to do together, during the next couple months. Some ideas they discussed are as follows: 

    • Reach out to the postgraduate student representative from our course on BPS and possible activities. 
    • Reach out to the psychology club for a possible collaboration 
    • Connect with career services to encourage more students to engage with the BPS

    In addition, they prepared an introduction to the BPS that they are using to connect with students during lectures.

    Abe and Yizhuo are taking the lead on this in their undergraduate classes, while Sarah, Sharlene and Dhishana are focusing on reaching out to students from our masters' lectures.

    Events for you to promote within your university

    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!  

    Supervision, Leadership and where they meet

    DCP England committee is excited to host the first CPD event primarily aimed at pre-qualification members, however those at stages of training and qualification are welcome to join. We invite attendees from all nations to think about their roles, leadership and supervisory aspects, where these meet, and how they interact at different career stages. The event aims to support pre-qualification members to utilise leadership and supervision skills to enhance their practice and development; and consider their contribution to shaping the next generation of clinical psychologists. 

    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. 

    Revision Strategies and Coping with Examination Stress

    Our presenters will specifically be talking about: 

    • Good habits 
    • Planning 
    • Exam stress strategies

    In addition, there will be a presentation on a wide selection of revision techniques for you to take away, practise and apply.

    Opportunities to get involved in

    Mental Health First Aid Training

    Please complete this form if you want to complete the MHFAider training and can commit to one of the course dates/times below, where the instructor-led live (online) session(s) part of the training will take place. This is being offered on a first come first served basis. It is important you only put yourself forward for the training if you are able to attend one of the courses below, and can attend both sessions within that course.  

    Course One
    • Monday February 27 8:45am - 2:00pm 
    • Wednesday March 01 8:45am - 1:30pm 
    Course Two
    • Thursday March 23; 8:45am - 2:00pm 
    • Friday March 24; 8:45am - 1:30pm 

    You will participate in the course through a blend of instructor-led live sessions (the dates above) and self-learning activities through an online learning platform. The self-learning activities are broken down per session, and must be completed before you attend your session.  

    You will: 

    • Develop practical skills to spot the triggers and signs of mental health issues 
    • Gain confidence to reassure and support a person in distress 
    • Learn how to guide them to further support for recovery 

    Please note, there is a maximum of 16 places per course, and these will be offered on a first come first served basis. At the moment we have scheduled two courses for delivery, but will be adding new course dates throughout the year. 

    Theme for February – Representing the BPS within your institution:

    This month, we would like you to think about ways in which you could promote the BPS in your institutions. This could mean a variety of different activities, such as hosting a BPS coffee morning within your student union, or if you are a remote student, gathering together fellow psychology students online!

    You could put up the posters we have sent to you across your faculty buildings, or download them from our MS Teams site and upload them onto your virtual learning environment.

    As always, we are keen to hear your updates, so please do send over updates to us (including pictures) via [email protected]. 

    Drop In Sessions

    Your first drop in session!

    We have moved the Student Ambassador Catch Up to a new date of Monday 30th January 2023.  Please find details below including joining instructions: 

    • Date: Monday 30 January 2023 
    • Time: 5.00pm – 6.15pm 
    • Location: MS Teams 
    • Topic: Social media and Digital Communications 

    Agenda: 

    • Introduction to the Team and the catch up 
    • Show and Tell 
    • Current work of the BPS Digital Communications Team 
    • Discussion around ideas 
    • Questions and answers 
    Pre-Attendance:

    Prior to attending we would encourage you to have a think about what a 'good' social media approach would look like for students.  Please consider bringing along examples or linking to examples of social media posts which you like and might be good for a student audience.  We would welcome you to upload your examples prior to the workshop on the following Padlet: https://padlet.com/j_goodwin2/e3fjo0su00zs29te.  We'll review these and pick out some of the examples during Monday's drop-in session. 

    Joining Instructions: 

    Join on your computer, mobile app or room device 

    Click here to join the meeting 

    Meeting ID: 373 337 292 183  
    Passcode: n9YVVv  

    Download Teams | Join on the web 

    We have allocated time at the end of the workshop for you to ask any questions which you might have. We hope to see as many of you there as possible and we are excited to hear about what you have been up to. As with all of these meetings, attendance is optional but we would encourage you to come along if you are free. 
     

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