Student ambassador scheme update

Over the past academic year, the British Psychological Society's Careers Team piloted a Student Ambassador scheme, recruiting 20 volunteer Student Ambassadors from across five regions and 11 institutions who became advocates for the BPS in their university.

Students took part in various activities to promote and represent the BPS including creating marketing resources for social media pages; producing articles on their university platforms to introduce themselves; liaising with department and employability staff to negotiate slots in lectures to speak about the BPS; setting up a Psychology Society; organising a mega social; and participating with the BPS Careers Team in a speed networking session at NTUs Festival of Psychology.

Natalie Billing, BPS Partnership and Careers Liaison Lead, told us: 'The students thoroughly enjoyed their time volunteering and to say a special thank you, in August, a group of Student Ambassadors along with the BPS Careers Team met up to discuss their experience of the Student Ambassador pilot, and to celebrate their successes. The day started with a consolidation session in the BPS London office, where the students were able to reflect upon their experience as a Student Ambassador, describing what it meant to them to represent the BPS and work closely with their universities and fellow psychology students.'

Nisa Han, from Nottingham Trent University, reflected on her experience by saying 'I felt honoured to be a part of the BPS, to be able to take part in so many activities and do things I wouldn't have done usually. I have learnt so much more about the BPS and what it can offer, and I hope I have given some of that knowledge to my fellow students too!'.

The students then headed to the Freud Museum, where they got the opportunity to visit the home of Sigmund Freud and his family, learning all about his key works and contribution to the field of psychology.

In terms of next steps, Billing said: 'The programme will be launched across the whole of the UK at the end of September, in all of the universities where we have accredited courses. This means all students studying on an accredited undergraduate, conversion or wider psychological workforce course are able to apply to become a volunteer BPS student ambassador. The Careers Team, alongside our VLE Team have created a dynamic online training programme, blending both synchronous and asynchronous learning to help our new cohort of Student Ambassadors to thoroughly prepare for their role.'