Hello all,

I hope everyone is looking forward to the longer, brighter days of Spring!

I had a busy February as your PGR Officer. I’ve set up working groups for marginalised groups within the postgraduate community, and this month I met with PGRs with caring responsibilities and self-funded PGRs. We had some really fruitful discussions about the barriers these researchers face and came up with some innovative solutions. I’ll be taking these forward and seeing what the university can do to implement them.

I also got involved with Welcome Week events this month. Thank you to everyone who came to the Meet & Greet in the Jaguar building and the city tour! I had a great time meeting you all. If you have any other ideas about the sort of events you’d like to see as a PGR, please contact me – you can find out how at the end of this article.

In March, I’ll be going to the NUS national conference. We’ll be voting on key policy areas in higher education to decide on the NUS’ campaigning priorities for the next year. I’m really keen to make sure PGR voices are represented alongside undergrads and PGTs, so if you have any thoughts on what the NUS should focus on, please let me know.

Unfortunately, my time as PGR Officer is coming to an end in June! However, elections for your 2023-4 Officers are coming soon – voting opens on 14th March. I hope all PGRs will vote for your new SU representative and continue to work with them to improve the postgrad experience at Coventry. You can find out more about the candidates and the election here.

As ever, you can contact me with any ideas, issues, or questions about the PGR experience. You can email me at ae0112@coventry.ac.uk or via Teams. For discussions with other PGRs, you can join the WhatsApp group here.

Until next month,

Kirsty