The voice of Postgraduate Research (PGR) students is just as important to the Students' Union and the University as all other modes of study. Therefore, the Students' Union and the University are working closely together to ensure that this voice is collected, as well as heard.
There are many ways in which a PGR student can get involved with the development of their experience, including being a representative.
The main aim of a PGR Representative is to represent the PGR student community at the relevant board/committee, so ensuring that any positive or negative feedback is heard and responded to.
A PGR Representative is expected to perform the following duties:
For those with a Research Degree Board/Research Degree Committee position, you should:
For those with a Students' Union Executive Committee position, you should:
There are four subject-based Research Degrees Boards (RDBs) and the University-wide Research Degrees Committee (RDC), each of which meets regularly throughout the year to discuss matters relating to the student experience, researcher development and postgraduate research policies. The RDBs and RDC are populated by experienced supervisors and researchers, along with PGR Representatives.
The University and Faculty Research and Enterprise Committees do not deal with PGR matters directly, but still have student representatives.
Please click this link to download the terms of reference and membership of every Research Degrees Board, the Research Degrees Committee and the Research Ethics Committee, as well as a diagram of the committee structure.
The following table outlines the current representatives for each committee, together with any vacancies.
University Committee |
Student Rep |
Research and Enterprise Committee |
Sue Palmer-Hill Mode: Part-time
Imane Tiahi Mode: Full-time |
Research Degrees Committee |
Anthony Stepniak Mode: Part-time
Shalini Bisani Mode: Full-time |
Arts & Humanities Research Degree Board |
Meghann Hillier-Broadley Mode: Part-time
Francis Blore Mode: Part-time |
Business & Education Research Degree Board |
Taher Sahibi Mode: Full-time
(Faculty: Education and Humanities) |
Science Research Degree Board |
Charlotte Brooke Mode: Part-time
(Faculty: Arts, Science and Technology) |
Social Science Research Degree Board |
Melissa Symonds Mode: Part-time
|
Research Ethics Committee |
Dan Jones Mode: Part-time
Djamel Benchaib Mode: Full-time |
The Executive Committee is run solely by Northampton students and meets monthly to discuss all issues relating to the student experience, academic quality and Union engagement.
Students' Union Committee |
Student Rep |
Executive Committee – |
Each role is an elected position. Just click on the vacancy you are interested in for more information.
Note: The elections for the University Committees and Research Degree Boards are facilitated by the Students' Union, but are not currently part of the formal Students' Union structure.