STEM Faculty Representatives – Their promises to you

Picture of the George Farha Cafe, Photograph by Mary Hinkley, UCL Imagestore

Preview written by Altay Shaw

On Friday evening, Kinesis Magazine sent out an invite to the 80 candidates who are running to be your faculty representatives – of the 80 who were reached out to, only 6 got back to us – Lina Tabasaranskaia, Hamza Ahmed, Malek Issa, Ayesha Yaqoob, Armani Tanna and Sabrina Devji- to state their case on why they should be your STEM Faculty Reps.

We initially intended this feature to introduce the candidates to our readers and the entire UCL community. We wanted to understand their positions and whether they would be held accountable, especially considering that last year’s Education Zone failed to reach quorum. As these candidates get to decide the focus of the Student Union’s lobbying for education and general student support, their votes matter arguably more than any other group of students.

Our desire had been to contact the candidates on Wednesday evening, providing them a few days to respond to our questions and, hopefully, an opportunity to see various ideas and thoughts going into the voting week. To keep in line with the Student Union rules for elections, we had to wait for confirmation from the SU Elections Team, which did not come until Friday afternoon, giving the candidates only a day to get back to us.

In our email to the candidates, we asked the following questions:

• What plans do you have if you win your election? 

• What you would like to do to ensure STEM students’ voices are heard. 

• Will you be able to state what you plan to do for the upcoming year and how you intend to work with your departments or societies to lead change on and around campus? 

• If you missed Zone meetings and discussions, would you hold yourself accountable? If so, how would you do this?

Our original goal with this article was to compare each role, outline the different stances taken by the candidates, and identify what they believed were the priorities of studies at University College London within their departments. Instead, we will post their responses as stated. We will not include any excerpts or edits, allowing the candidates to express themselves authentically.

Malek Issa – Candidate for Faculty of Population Health Sciences PGR Representative

I’m running for the Faculty of Population Health Sciences PGR Representative role. I’m a DBA Health student at UCL and also work full-time as a clinical pharmacist in the NHS. My research focuses on how AI can support access and safety in primary care. While I am not based in a traditional STEM department, my work connects closely with science, technology and data.

What I plan to do if elected:

If elected, my first step will be to speak with students across the faculty and listen to what matters to them. I do not want to assume what the issues are without hearing from people directly. I aim to be an open and approachable point of contact, especially for students balancing research with clinical or professional responsibilities.

How I would support STEM voices:

Many students in our faculty work in areas that overlap with STEM, such as digital health, data science and implementation research. I want to make sure these voices are part of key conversations, especially when their work does not follow a traditional academic path.

Accountability:

If I ever miss a Zone meeting or important discussion, I will take responsibility, catch up on what was shared and speak with other reps to stay informed. I will also make sure to keep students updated. I am used to working in high-trust environments in the NHS and would carry that approach into this role.

Ayesha Yaqoob – Candidate for Faculty of Population Health Sciences PGT Representative

Thank you for reaching out and for featuring the Faculty Representative elections in Kinesis Magazine.

• If elected as the Faculty Representative for Population Health Sciences, my goal is to strengthen the bridge between students and faculty by ensuring every student’s voice truly matters. Coming from a healthcare background, I’ve learned that progress happens when people feel heard and included,  and I want to bring that same spirit of empathy and collaboration to UCL.
• STEM students often juggle demanding workloads and research pressures, yet their experiences can be underrepresented. I’ll advocate for consistent student consultation on curriculum design, research opportunities, and support systems. As someone transitioning from clinical practice to research, I want to represent diverse perspectives, particularly those of international and postgraduate students,  ensuring every voice is not only heard but acted upon.
• This year, I hope to collaborate with societies, departmental reps, and faculty staff to foster a stronger sense of academic community. I plan to initiate interdisciplinary networking events connecting students from public health, biomedical, and clinical programs, encouraging collaboration beyond classrooms and labs. I’ll also work with societies to organize wellness and skill-building workshops that support both academic growth and personal well-being. My vision is a community that’s connected, collaborative, and compassionate.
• Absolutely. Accountability defines good leadership. If I ever miss a meeting, I’ll review all minutes, consult fellow reps, and share updates openly with students through summaries or drop-in catchups. I’ll also seek student input to make sure their concerns remain represented in follow-up discussions. For me, being a representative means showing up, even when I can’t be in the room, with integrity and transparency.

Sabrina Devji – Candidate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences UG Faculty Rep

What you have planned should you win your election: 

From MAPS Mixers to Rant at your Rep sessions, my term as the Mathematical and Physical Sciences UG Faculty Rep will be nothing short of innovative, creative and thrilling. A concise list of key ideas I would aim to implement is presented below for ease:

• Ask a Grad Mentoring Scheme – small mentee groups consisting of First and Second Years would pair up with Third Year and Postgrad Mentors for sessions pertaining to your course, as well as any other general queries that may arise. 
• Fosters intra-department collaboration
• Build your network

• Tutors: In Conversation With.. – a brand-new podcast series where two tutors within the  Faculty are paired together for a discussion on all things related to their careers, their course and the interdisciplinary nature that binds their specialisms.
• A chance to learn more about your lecturers
• Promotes conversation, an art we are watching rapidly wither away

• Rant at Your Rep Sessions – A chance to catch up with your MAPS rep (hopefully myself!) to convey any concerns, queries and general feedback regarding curriculum, teaching and more.
• Voice your concerns in a safe space
• Make change happen.

• Humanitarian Hackathon – a cross-departmental hackathon using data science to confront humanitarian or environmental challenges, with opportunities to partner with NGOs and humanitarian organisations for prizes.
• Get to know students across the faculty
• Develop programming and computer-based skills, a fundamental in a world that is becoming increasingly digitalised

• MAPS Mixers – Inter-departmental socials to get to know other students and staff within the Faculty
• A chance to meet other Faculty members without academic pressure
• Snacks provided!

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What you would like to do to ensure STEM students’ voices are heard:

As outlined in my proposals, ‘Rant at Your Rep’ sessions will be organised monthly to ensure STEM students’ voices are at the heart of all actions taken in my capacity as Representative. Without listeners, there are no leaders, therefore these sessions will revolve primarily around addressing student concerns regarding teaching, assessments, curriculum and any other business concerning the Faculty.

There will also be an anonymous drop-box at these sessions, where students who are less comfortable with openly sharing concerns can address issues in a hidden manner, without the stress of having to publicly address concerns. 

Finally, my inbox is always open; any student that needs someone to use as a sounding board, an advisor, or even just a listening ear, I will ensure to be accessible and approachable whenever possible. 🙂

____________

Will you be able to state what you plan to do for the upcoming year and how you intend to work with your departments or societies to lead change on and around campus.

Clarifying my proposals and intentions with departments and societies related to the Faculty will be a strong priority for me, as they will be vital in collaborating to create positive change at UCL.

Societies are fundamental in enabling the development of the Faculty, as they remind us to engage with our course in a manner that is not solely academic, but often rather fun (not that the two can’t operate in tandem..right?!). Having engaged with the Disaster and Risk Reduction & Humanitarianism Society already, I look forward to meeting with more department societies to discuss how best to implement exciting new schemes across campus, as well as to hear their ideas for the upcoming academic year.

Each department within the Faculty offers something unique, totally different to the next. From Risk and Disaster Reduction to Astrophysics, we are part of a Faculty that looks at implementing real change to leave for generations to come, whether through research, through aid administration, or simply through instilling a new generation with the passion we have for our field. In working with each department, I aim to bridge these unique courses and create a network that will span generations – using the Faculty’s diversity as a tool, not a barrier. Through introducing new events like a hackathon, and having students try taster lectures in other courses within the Faculty, we will be able to introduce students to fresh, exciting career pathways and instill in our own generation a passion for learning that goes beyond the lecture hall.

____________

If you were to miss Zone meetings and discussions, would you hold yourself accountable? If so, how would you do this?

I would be nothing without my integrity, which extends to ensuring I am held accountable when I am at fault. Missing zone meetings (which would be an extremely rare occurrence should I be elected) would not be something I take lightly, therefore I would likely buy a chocolate box to hand out at the next meeting as an apology, and ensure to catch myself up on the minutes of the missed meeting. I would also reach out to members present at this meeting to catch up on details I missed and any relevant action I must take prior to or following the next meeting. 

Accountability focuses itself not just on attendance, but on consistently making sure student voices are heard, so in holding myself accountable, this will bear heavily in my mind.

Armani Tanna – Candidate for Faculty of Medical Sciences UG Representative (Non-Clinical)

What you have planned should you win your election.

Firstly, I will have a celebratory Mully’s trip on Friday! Then, we will get down to business – my main aims lie in promoting smaller courses within the Faculty, advocating for more practical skills and improving lab spacing. I want to be a friendly face that anyone around campus feels comfortable coming up to and providing feedback – be this both positive and negative, because student voice is the most powerful way to make change and I am excited that I have the opportunity to promote this. I would also like to look into more Faculty Wide events as this is a great way to meet so many people you might have never seen before, connect with others in different year groups and have some fun! I also want to foster an environment where the Academic Reps from each course in each year group can have crystal clear communication with me.

· What you would like to do to ensure STEM students’ voices are heard.

I would like to make sure I reach all students within the Faculty, to get their feedback. My goal is to make feedback open, easy and genuinely listened to. I have a background in presenting and advocating changes, which means I am a confident person who is not afraid to speak up in the Education Zone meetings to promote STEM in the manner that is deserved! What would make me the happiest is seeing us all graduate with a love for the course we studied, the people we met along the way, and the experiences experienced 😊.

· Will you be able to state what you plan to do for the upcoming year and how you intend to work with your departments or societies to lead change on and around campus.

I would like to ensure that every single student feels valued within the Medical Sciences and feels comfortable speaking up about their feedback. I’ve seen how influential student feedback can be from being an Academic Rep last year – one small sentence can make a colossal difference.

I would also work closely with the IMS society to promote more events this year and get student input into what sort of things they would like and benefit from.

Student Wellbeing is also a big thing for me, and I know how stressful approaching deadlines and exams can be, so I would like to promote some more wellbeing events, such as getting in contact with the Yoga Society (which I am part of) to potentially organise some yoga or meditation sessions closer to the exam season!

· If you were to miss Zone meetings and discussions, would you hold yourself accountable? If so, how would you do this?

Yes, I would hold myself accountable because these events provide a way for our voices to be heard. If I was unable to attend however, I would ensure to send my feedback prior to the meeting, and then I would review the minutes afterwards.

Lina Tabasaranskaia – Candidate for the Faculty of Brain Sciences Postgraduate Representative

My name is Lina Tabasaranskaia (she/her), and I am running for Student Academic Representative within the Faculty of Brain Sciences.

If elected, my primary goal is to strengthen communication and wellbeing support within our faculty so that every student feels heard, supported, and valued. Having overcome significant mental health challenges and taken time away from my studies before returning to graduate with First-Class Honours in Psychology, I know how crucial compassionate and responsive representation can be.

To achieve this, I plan to introduce several practical initiatives, including:

• Creating a structured feedback system, such as monthly “Student Voice Reports,” summarising common concerns and updates from meetings to improve transparency and accountability.
• Establishing wellbeing drop-ins or “Tea & Talk” sessions, co-facilitated with the student support team, to provide informal spaces where students can share experiences or access guidance.
• Organising peer-led mental health and resilience workshops, in collaboration with UCL’s Student Support and Wellbeing (SSW) services and academic mentors.
• Launching a mentorship scheme pairing new postgraduate students with peers who have navigated similar academic and wellbeing challenges, promoting connection and inclusion.
• Introducing anonymous feedback forms for sensitive issues to ensure that all students—especially those hesitant to speak up—still have a voice.

I would also work closely with department leads to ensure wellbeing concerns are discussed at faculty meetings, not treated as a secondary issue. I believe wellbeing and academic success are inseparable, and both must be prioritised equally.

If I were to miss Zone meetings or key discussions, I would hold myself fully accountable by reviewing minutes, consulting with peers who attended, and updating students promptly. I would also commit to setting personal attendance goals and publicly sharing progress to maintain transparency.

Ultimately, I want to help make the Faculty of Brain Sciences a place where open communication, inclusion, and wellbeing are embedded in everyday academic life. By combining evidence-based mental health strategies with strong student representation, I hope to ensure that every student can thrive both personally and academically.

Thank you again for inviting me to contribute. I wish all candidates the best of luck with the elections.

Hamza Ahmed – Candidate for Faculty of Life Sciences UG Representative

My plan is simple: to make the Faculty Rep someone who the students trust, feel comfortable sharing struggles with, and who the students see making real changes throughout the year.

Ask any undergraduate how their first year went, and you’ll more often than not hear them talk about how intense of a learning curve it was. And we’ve all been there too – first year is when you don’t know how to take notes, how to prepare for tests, whether you’re the only one who finds many lectures confusing, and worse of all, if you’re the only one who feels this behind.

This experience, which starts in the first-year for many but goes on to continue for some throughout their degree programme, is where I want to deliver tangible results.

For when many of us feel ‘disconnected’ with our courses, I would like to roll out termly ’pulse-checks’. This is where I, together with relevant reps, sit together with students from each course to have open-ended discussions on what is going well and what isn’t. As someone who’s pathologically chatty, I don’t see these meetings to be simple and short discussions but places where we come up with solutions together with each other. This should also give all of you who are interested in representative roles to gain valuable experience should you choose to run next year.

For when we start forgetting we even have a rep (hopefully never), I would like to keep everyone up to date with what I’m doing as a Faculty Rep via a WhatsApp group. This is where all of you get to hold me accountable – but also where we can talk about which modules are getting unmanagebly tough, whether the lack of past papers or mock exams is hurting performance significantly, among many other things.

And, lastly, the favourite policy I’d like to roll out is a quick-wins board. This is where I advertise tasks any student from the life sciences courses can do to help us out fix issues – say, data collection on tough a particular test was, general vibes surrounding student confidence in lectures, etc. This is by far my favourite policy because it gives every student a chance to develop experience in working with the faculty, representing students, and leadership, in an environment that isn’t intimidating. Who knows, this is how you’ll build your experience to stand for this position yourself next year?

On to the second question,

I believe the main reason why many voices remain unheard is because many of those who have valuable input to provide don’t find an avenue, nor motivation, to do so; case in point: my friends and I who were quite displeased with the flipped lectures policy in a module we had last year, and rarely did I think of going to my faculty rep to discuss it because I honestly didn’t think it was an issue that could’ve been fixed. 

Taking these two points in mind then – of both making sure people feel that raising their voice will lead to change, as well as making sure they don’t feel intimidated to do so – I’d love to tackle the input issue via various angles. 

One of which is ensuring we encourage people to talk via their own friends (as per the quick-wins board announcements). Another is by working with relevant society leaderships to organise small ‘raise your hands if you found X module difficult this week’ at the end of their panel discussions, etc. 

Moreover, we also have a sizeable community of international students who may feel intimidated to actively participate in such discussions due to language barriers. Hence, collaborating with other students (again, could even be another gig on the quick-wins board) to allow them to speak to me in the language, manner, and honesty they feel comfortable in is one of my main goals. This is of an extreme importance also because I want every person on any life sciences course to feel just as much part of the course as anyone else, regardless of how vocal they are. 

I will be skipping the third question because I believe I’ve answered it well over the course of other answers.

On to the fourth question,

I don’t (despite my luscious hair and peak musculature) consider myself to be a superhero. Sometimes, life can be tough. One promise I can make to every life sciences student is that whenever things get so hard I’m missing my duties as Faculty Rep, I will inform the relevant department, student union, and all of you. 

Do note, that the odds of this happening are very low. The main reason why I’m focused on working with other reps, societies, as well as students via the quick-wins board, is because I want all of us to be involved, and not all of us to rely upon just my ability. Breaking down tasks so that everyone can have a role in completing them helps not just everyone learn how the game is played, but also myself since I’ll be able to do more for all responsibly, accessibly, and transparently.

But also, the odds are really low since I’m signing up to be Faculty Rep because I want to be Faculty Rep, because I want to be proactive in the student community, because I honestly believe we can all enjoy our courses during the year, not at the last minute when we realise just how interesting our course material is a few days before the end-of-year exams.

Plus, I’m pathologically talkative – the notion of having missed out a discussion where I could chat with anyone is scarier to me than running out of money at the end of term.

If you are a student who is in a STEM Department, you could vote for your next Faculty Reps on the Student Union website https://studentsunionucl.org/election/rep-elections-2025