The Students’ Union is a student-led organisation, and so it’s important to us that all student voices can be heard accurately and consistently in all that we do. This page details some of the ways the Students’ Union ensures postgraduates have routes to communicate their concerns and needs to us, to build a stronger future for postgraduate students. We do this through initiatives like the Postgraduate Consultation Group, and positions within the Students’ Union to magnify student voices, like our Student Representatives and Executive Officers – find out more information about these below.
Tell us what it is like to be a postgraduate researcher at QM (and get paid to do it).
In line with the Students’ Union’s new strategy and in response to feedback from PGRs, the Students’ Union is organising its second run of our Postgraduate Consultation Group (PGCG) meetings, this academic year.
The Students’ Union represents all Queen Mary students, including students enrolled as PhD researchers and other postgraduate research students (postdocs are unfortunately not eligible). However, we recognise that our existing services and activities do not always meet the needs of PGRs, and we are therefore utilising this opportunity to get you more involved and tell us about your life at Queen Mary as a research student.
The PGCG is a small group of PGRs that meet regularly to discuss the PGR experiences at Queen Mary. The group is chaired by the VP Liberation, International and Postgraduates. The PGCG meetings will be structured around a set of questions from our VP LIP, but there will also be space for you to raise points outside of the pre-prepared questions. During these meetings, you will also meet our Postgraduate Research Representation Assistant, who acts as a secretary for these meetings. In short, it’s a bit like a focus group taking place regularly, where PGRs can talk about their experience and suggest ideas for improvements that the Students’ Union team can then take forward internally and in the wider university structure.
Yes! We know life as a research student can be pretty busy, and your feedback is really valuable to us. Therefore, members will get £35 per meeting to thank them for their time and feedback.
The PGCG meets 8 times per year, and each meeting takes 1.5 – 2 hours. To become a member, you do not have to be available to attend all meetings. Before each meeting, we will check which members are available and select between 5-15 members to attend each meeting. Depending on the number of people that sign up to take part, we will try to allocate a fair number of meetings to each member, so we hear from a range of PGRs.
Please note that you will only be paid for the meetings you attend.
In short – turn up and be prepared to talk about your experience as a research student at Queen Mary.
To help us facilitate the PGCG in an effective way, we’ll ask you to submit your availability before each meeting. We’ll sort this online, so it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes.
You may also find it helpful to take a bit of time before the meeting to reflect on your experience, so you are prepared to discuss your experience at the meeting.
All current PGRs at Queen Mary are eligible to be part of the PGCG, (postdocs are unfortunately not eligible). We are not looking for any particular skill set or knowledge, but you need to be willing to speak up and share your experience at the meetings.
The PGCG is a feedback collection forum, and we will cover a wide range of topics in relation to the experience of research students at Queen Mary. This can include but is not limited to induction, supervision, community, belonging, support, career planning, funding, housing, work-life balance, social activities, campus spaces and resources.
The PGCG is not suitable for individual casework – for example, the PGCG will not be suitable space to raise a concern about a named individual or raise a complaint about a specific service.
We ask all PGCG members to maintain confidentiality by not sharing feedback raised at the PGCG with anyone outside of the group. If a member wishes to discuss the work of the PGCG, they are welcome to do so in general terms, but it would not be acceptable to share details of specific points raised by other members.
The Students’ Union team uses the feedback from PGCG to make changes to Students’ Union services/activities and lobby for changes to services/activities provided by Queen Mary or external organisations. The meetings will be minuted by a Students’ Union staff member to ensure feedback is captured, but the feedback will be anonymised before it is use for improvement processes or lobbying.
Unfortunately, signups for the PGCG are currently closed for the 2024/25 academic year. Applications may reopen in the second semester if places become available, so please keep an eye out for future opportunities!
When the sign-ups close, we contact everyone that has signed up to arrange the first meeting. We contact you via email shortly after the form has closed with a quick online poll to confirm your availability.
When we know who is available for the first meeting, we will select between 5-15 members to participate in the first meeting. We will email you directly to let you know whether you’ve been selected for the first meeting, or not.
If you are not selected for the first meeting, we will do our best to allocate you to one of the subsequent meetings instead (depending on your availability and the number of people that have signed up).
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch – email su-representation@qmul.ac.uk.
Each year the Students’ Union elects a Postgraduate Taught Rep and a Postgraduate Research Rep for each faculty. Our reps work throughout the year to represent PGT and PGR students within the Students’ Union and to the University, attending meetings and lobbying for changes and improvements to the University and Students' Union.
There are different types of representatives, based on whether you are a PGT or PGR student, please find more details about them below.
We also elect a Vice President Liberation, Internationals and Postgraduates, who works full-time as part of our Executive Officer team and is responsible for leading our work engaging with student communities.
Your elected representatives want to hear your ideas to improve the university experience for postgraduate students. Use the form below to tell us your big or small ideas and your reps will work hard to make it happen.
To find out who your reps are, see what they are working on or to tell us your ideas, visit the links below.
The Students' Union's Executive Officers represent and work for all Queen Mary students, including you! They make sure your voice is heard when decisions are made that affect students and raise issues and run campaigns on your behalf. They also lead and direct the Students' Union in the way you want it to be run to suit your needs.
The six Executive Officers work full-time and are elected by students in a campus-wide vote held during the Spring Elections. Candidates must be students at the time of the election and have to get themselves elected if they want to take on the role. The Executive Officer roles are full-time paid jobs with a term of one academic year.
Learn more about your current Executive Officers through the following button. You will also find how to contact the Exec Team on this page.
Wed 30 Apr 2025
Following the recent UK Supreme Court ruling on the legal definition of a woman, we want to reassure our students who identify as trans, non-binary, and intersex, that support is available.
Contact the Student Voice team at your Students’ Union with any questions you may have.