Thank you to everyone who came to our Volunteer Awards! A big congratulations to our award winners and highly commended!
We want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has volunteered with QMSU this year, volunteering a total of 3000 hours!
You make a huge positive impact that is so inspiring, whether you volunteer with our partner organisations, our Give Volunteering A Go one-off opportunities, or with our student-led Volunteering Groups.
To our Volunteering Champions and Board - thank you so much for all your work this year, we have loved working with you and hope you are proud of everything you've accomplished!
Thank you to everyone who came to this year's Volunteer Awards and made it such a brilliant evening, it was lovely to see you all and celebrate your achievements this year! For those who couldn't make it, here's a run-down of our Award winners and our highly commended.
We have three Awards to commend our student-led Volunteering Groups and their hard-working members: Volunteering Group Event of the Year, Volunteering Group Volunteer of the Year, and Volunteering Group of the Year.
Griffin Community Trust won Volunteering Group Event of the Year for their Christmas dinner event. Highly commended are SAMDA for their medicine taster day, and Rotaract for their kids in mind initiative.
Ameila Klaczynska President of Teddy Bear Hospital won Volunteering Group Volunteer of the Year, with Aditya Arun Lad from Griffin Community Trust and Yash Ghorpade from Rotaract highly commended.
Teddy Bear Hospital won Volunteering Group of the Year, with Griffin Community Trust and SAMDA winning highly commended.
Click the links to view their mini-sites and see how you can get involved over on their Instagrams!
We have two Awards to celebrate particularly engaged partner organisations that we work with that provide excellent volunteering opportunities for students.
Solidarity Sports won our Community Organisation of the Year Award, with London Nightline and St Joseph’s hospice highly commended.
Great Ormond Street Hospital were the winners of our One-Off Volunteering opportunity of the Year Award, with London Museum and Haven house Hospice with the Volunteering champions being highly commended.
To find out more about volunteering with these organisations, follow the links!
We have a number of Awards to celebrate students who do volunteering across QMSU in many different forms!
Aditya Arun Lad won Biggest Impact of the Year Award for his volunteering with Project Play over the last 2 years, coming up with creative session ideas to keep children engaged. Our highly commended winners are Ameila Klaczynska for leading Teddy Bear Hospital’s volunteer initiatives and Riya Raja for her hard work and dedication to Griffin Community Trust and Project Play.
Isobel Ross-Archer won the New Volunteer of the Year Award for her partnership between Solidarity Sports and QMBL Swim Club, who have sent incredible volunteers to support the children and have made a significant impact! Mariam Fathima Mohammed is highly commended for her engagement and enthusiasm with many volunteering initiatives this year with Teddy Bear Hospital, while Connie Leung is also highly commended for their dedication to supporting students with London Nightline.
Najah Said Sulub Jama won the Community Volunteer of the Year Award for her dedication to numerous different community organisations such as St Joseph’s Hospice, as a ward volunteer. She has also volunteered as a STEM Ambassador, and at QMSU sports summer camps. Xi Wen Fong is highly commended for her work with Solidarity Sports since summer 2025. Xi ensures every child feels respected and valued. Frankie – Jay Lydon is highly commended for their dedication to volunteering with London Nightline this year.
Rasika Khemka was the winner of the Sustainability Volunteer of the Year Award for her dedication as a champion and climate action week taskforce member. Most notably creating social media content for the QMUL Sustain Instagram page. Afra Azim is highly commended for her time dedicated to volunteering at multiple Big Green Canal Cleans. Maham Nasir is highly commended for their participation in multiple Sustainability initiatives and events this year during climate action week!
Rachel Leung has won Volunteering Champion of the Year Award, she has for multiple years, brought her creativity and organisational skills to the role. This year she ran care package making for Haven House, as well as assisting at many QMSU one-off volunteering events, supporting other Queen Mary volunteers. Najah Said Sulub Jama is highly commended for her dedication to championing volunteering, by regularly volunteering with St Joseph’s Hospice, as well as organising events to get students involved in volunteering. Roland Dwayne Alaveren Bernados is highly commended for being incredibly proactive, organising multiple volunteering opportunities this year. These include card making for a local care home, plant pot painting for St Joseph's Hospice, and making Christmas care packages for Haven House.
Thank you everyone again for your amazing, inspiring work this year!
If you are new to QMSU Volunteering and had any questions at all on how to start volunteering with us, please do reach out at su-volunteering@qmul.ac.uk , we’d love to see you at the Awards next year!