Have Your Say at our new Student Forums
Your voice matters — and Student Forums is a way to be heard. Student Forums are student-led spaces where you can share your ideas, raise issues and help shape your Students’ Union, Queen Mary and even national education politics. Our Student Forums cover particular topics, communities or areas of interests, and membership can either be open (anyone can join), elected or selected through an application process.
What Are Student Forums?
Student Forums are regular group discussions or meetings with other students, Student Reps and Executive Officers on a particular topic, community or area of interest where you can:
- Raise concerns about things like student life, your course or the university
- Share ideas for change
- Connect with other students and Students’ Union representatives
- Work together with others to make positive change about something you care about.
Can I join a Student Forum?
The Student Forums recruit members in one of the following ways:
- Open membership – this means that any Queen Mary student can join
- Elected membership – this means that you’ll have to put yourself forward in an election and get elected to be a member
- Selected membership – this means that you’ll have to submit an application to be selected as a member
Some groups cover specific parts of the student community, and those groups may require you to be a member of that group to participate. For example, the Postgraduate Consultation Group is only open for postgraduate research students (such as PhDs).
What Student Forums are currently running?
How can I start a new Student Forum?
If you have an idea for a new Student Forum, you can apply to set up a new Student Forum.
To start a new Student Forum, you must submit an application through the Make a Change form. When you’ve submitted your application, the Student Representative Committee will review your application and decide if your group can be established.
Your application must meet the following criteria:
- Your Student Forum must have clear aims and objectives relating to student voice and student-led campaigning (if you’re more interested in starting a social group, please have a look at the process for starting a new society instead).
- There can’t be substantial overlap with an existing forum.
- There must be alignment with the Students’ Union’s purpose, rules and policies, and your Student Forum must not pose a legal, financial or reputational risk for the Students’ Union.
- You must have a Chair (which could be you) and a member of the Student Representative Committee that is willing and has capacity to act as a link between your group and the Student Representative Committee.
If your application is approved, Students’ Union staff will help you set the group up and recruit your members, and you’ll be able to apply for funding.