Postgraduate students are amazing. They balance some of the highest level education, often with other financial responsibilities and an intense work-life balance. I stood for election to be the SU PG officer because I value postgraduate students, and want to make sure that UEASU represents and supports them in every way we can.

We are dedicated to representing the interests of both taught and research postgraduate students during their academic study, alongside broadening the opportunities available to postgraduates as a cornerstone of the student experience. No postgraduate student experience is the same, and as a Students’ Union, our core vision is to celebrate those differences, and understand where we need to improve.

Postgraduate SU is there for the postgraduate community, facilitated through our Postgraduate Assembly and Committee. At UEA there has been a checkered past of postgraduate representation, often closed off to the diverse nature of postgraduate study – but now our key representative bodies, like Graduate Student Forums, Student Staff Liaison Committees and the Postgraduate Assembly offer students the chance to change their experience, and the experience of future students. However, we know we need to do more to engage with postgraduates in spaces where they already most participate.

We need a new approach to tackle the national problem of postgraduate underrepresentation in higher education. We understand our current structures only go so far in representing and providing solutions to the problems we face on campus; poor learning and teaching space, isolation, and inadequate mental health provision. Our new vision involves the SU moving out of the offices in Union House, and bringing our services to the spaces students feel comfortable in. Our democratic structures will be widened out as a proactive move to include as many postgraduate communities as possible.

Postgraduate SU needs to be both meaningful and desirable. Our strategy sets out a new approach to engage and represent those it exists to serve.