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    Student Ambassador Update - March 2023

    Thank you very much for sending us your updates, as usual it was lovely hearing about what you have been up to.

    21 November 2023

    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.

    Recruitment for a new cohort of Student Ambassadors will open next month, please keep your eyes peeled for the communication from us.

    It would be awesome if you could share this opportunity with fellow psychology students.

    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 

    Pragya Modi – Arden University

    Pragya has started sending out monthly event updates through WhatsApp and is working with Arden's marketing team to post this across on the learning platform. Pragya has organised an online coffee chat which is scheduled to be held online.

    Pragya has collaborated with the careers team at Arden in order to deliver information related to the BPS and how she can help the students utilise their BPS membership during their first career session.

    Pragya was also involved in creating resources for students for University Mental Health Day, and going forward will be sourcing speakers 

    Vlad Makar and Malayeka Asfand-e-yar – University of Leicester

    The student Ambassadors had a meeting with the Psychology department to launch a section dedicated to the BPS on their learning platform. They are planning to add all careers related resources in order to easily access the information. They are looking to replicate the information in the BPS support pack but a condensed version to be distributed before April. 

    Inas Adam and Angie Liu Tsz Yan – University of Sheffield

    The Student Ambassadors have organised a casual career chat event for all psychology students. They will provide an introduction to the BPS and Career routes. Students who had previously completed an internship in various sectors will also be present to answer any career related questions. There will also be a networking session at the end of the event. 

    Amber Capurro – Durham University

    Amber has delivered two presentations in Stowe. One to their pre-med group and another to their psychology society in order to promote the BPS, the student membership and the benefits of becoming a Student Ambassador. 

    Sophie King and Harvey Upton – University of Aberdeen

    Sophie and Harvey held a stall at the annual University of Aberdeen School of Psychology networking event. Here they spoke about the BPS student membership, the benefits of having a membership and the various career routes available for psychology students upon graduation.  

    Samantha Smallwood – University of Highland and Islands

    Sam delivered the careers presentation to a group of school leavers and will also be spending time with undergraduate and postgraduate programmes to promote the student membership. Sam will be arranging a drop-in session too.

    Myles Regester and Charlotte Fleetwood – Aberystwyth University 

    The Student Ambassadors have started a newsletter for the BPS which is sent out alongside their university newsletter. This is a brand-new process but they are planning to have a fully developed system for the newsletter next year. 

    Emaline Hamnett – University of Winchester 

    Emaline spoke at the University of Winchester's careers fair alongside the branch chair Richard Pemberton and the BPS Careers Team. The event was successful and many students asked various questions in relation to careers in psychology. 

    Carolina Nyakila and Hanaa Khan – Brunel University London

    Hanaa and Carolina did a lecture shoutout for the MSc Psychology conversion cohort. They also found that after completing undergraduate and postgraduate shoutouts fellow students are more aware of who the BPS are and the benefits that come with the student membership. Also, students also understand how the BPS can support them throughout their career. Carolina and Hanna have extremely enjoyed presenting to both cohorts. They are now in the process of planning an event in collaboration with the Brunel Psychology Society.  

    Sarah Puthuparackat, Dhishana Kidambi, Sharlene Loh and Abraham Clark – University of Bristol

    The Student Ambassadors in Bristol created a presentation regarding the BPS and member benefits. They held interactive movie sessions which allowed students to to discuss how psychological concepts arise in movies. Some of the themes discussed were coping mechanisms, social hierarchy and toxic femininity.  

    As part of their University Mental Health Day, they collaborated with their mental wellbeing team providing resources to students such as a self-love poster. They have also created an Instagram page to increase engagement with the student body. This will allow students to provide feedback and get involved in their event planning process.  

    Updates from the Careers Team: 

    Visits

    As you may now be aware, the careers team will be visiting many different regions and universities over the course of the year. We try to attend as many careers events as possible, and will reach out to you directly if we plan to attend, in order to meet you face to face also!  

    Message from the BPS Social Media Team

    We know studying for exams and the exams themselves can be a really stressful time, so we want to help. We have a free webinar on the 30th March all about revision strategies and how to cope with exam stress, link to event is available under events in the student community. 

    We've kicked off a thread too asking people to share their experience, tips and advice and we'd love it if you'd help share this and get involved to help make it a really great resource and source of support for people - bit.ly/StudyingExamTips 

    We're also looking to create content for social media with lecturers and psychologists and we'd love some volunteer ambassadors to come forward who would be up for sharing their own experience/tips on a video too. Please get in touch via [email protected] if you'd like to be involved. 

    Events for you to promote within your university: 

    Careers in Healthcare 

    Are you considering your next career move? Come along to find out how you can become part of the East of England Provide Collaborative. This "one stop shop" event it is the perfect opportunity to find out about healthcare careers within the six NHS providers that form the Provider Collaborative and our independent sector partners.

    The Division of Sports and Exercise Psychology (DSEP) Network & Learn Sessions: Writing for publication  

    The DSEP Network and Learn Series are events that bring together sport and exercise psychologists, and those with an interest in the field, at all levels of their training and career to talk about different topics and learn from each other.

    Speakers: Dr Shuge Zhang and Dr James Newman.

    Developing a paper for Clinical Psychology Forum – planning to publication

    This workshop would suit anyone considering publishing in Clinical Psychology forum or who may have interest in reviewing for us. 

    It should also be helpful generally for new academic writers. We will describe the process of publication from planning your write-up to final proofs and will be providing tips and suggestions to get your projects publication-ready.

    PEARL 3: Developing your practice: shaping your career path in occupational psychology MSc and beyond

    Within the Occupational Psychology community there is a great deal of interesting and important work being carried out by MSc students, doctoral students, those on the Stage 2 qualification, and other practitioners. 

    With an emphasis on early career stages, this webinar presents an opportunity for psychologists to present their work to their peers in a safe and supportive environment. The theme of this third PEARL event is a focus on how we develop our practice, whether as a practitioner, a researcher, or both.

    The purpose of the webinar is developmental and aims to help participants to acquire the skills and experience to submit their work to conferences, such as the DOP conference, and to peer reviewed journals including the DOP's new periodical, Occupational Psychology Outlook.

    Qualification in Occupational Psychology information Session

    In this session you will: 

    • Hear from the QOP qualification board about what the qualification entrails and how this route would work for you 
    • How to meet the key competencies in this qualification 
    • What the assessment process is like once enrolled 
    • What the employment options are once completing the QHP 
    • Learn how this route differs from other stage 2 or PhD routes to chartership 
    • Find out about hints and tips for applying to the qualification 

    The Psychology of Cannibalism: Explaining Jeffrey Dahmer 

    Join us in Derby for the first in a series of free to attend "Psychology at the Mic" events hosted by BPS East Midlands Branch. 

    Louise Wallace (Lecturer in Forensic Psychology; University of Derby) will provide fascinating insights into the psychology of cannibalism, drawing on examples from Jeffrey Dahmer, a case recently highlighted in the Netflix drama series "Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story". 

    Louise Wallace is a PhD Candidate and Lecturer in Forensic Psychology who teaches on a wide range of modules on the programme and is currently the module leader for Introduction to Biological and Social Forensic Psychology and Victimology for Forensic Psychologists. 

    Her main areas of expertise are psychopathy and its adaptive and evolutionary benefits, intimate partner violence (IPV), and scale development.

    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.

    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].  

    Theme for April – End of university year collaborations event:

    This month, we would like you to start planning your end of university year collaborations events. This could be anything of your choice, online or in person. Consider reaching out to your psychology and careers departments if you have collaborated with them over this academic year. Would be nice to get together to do something fun like a quiz night and have a chat in continuing collaborations going forward. 

    You could also consider writing some top tips from a psychological perspective about revising for exams for fellow students. This would tie in nicely with the revision strategies webinar the BPS social media team will be hosting on 30th March.    

    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 

    We have moved the Student Ambassador Catch Up to a new date of Monday 17 April 2023.

    Date: Monday17th April 2023 

    Time: 17:00-18:15 

    Topic: Celebration session 

    Agenda: 

    • Introduction to the Team and the catch up 
    • Discussion around ideas 
    • Questions and answers 

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