2026 Rep Elections Coverage: The candidates seeking to represent the Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences and their promises to you

Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences

Candidate respondees: Melody Hou, Aditya Raj, Minnie Wang, Yuang Teng Zi He

Candidate: Melody Hou

1. What faculty are you running for? What is your department and degree?

I am running for the Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences UG Rep. I am a 2nd year Chemistry with Management Studies student from the Department of Chemistry.

2. What do you have planned should you win your election?

If elected, my primary goal is to ensure that student experience is at the heart of everything we do. To realize this, I plan to:

• Establish an anonymous online forum where students across the faculty can freely share their ideas, real experiences and priorities without barrier or hesitation. Whether it’s a suggestion for improving facilities or a concern about coursework, this platform will ensure every perspective is captured
• Send out a monthly action newsletter. Transparency and accountability are essential. Every month, I will send out a newsletter detailing the main concerns raised, along with clear updates on the specific actions taken to address and tackle them.

I want to bridge the gap between student feedback and real change to ensure that every students’ time here is as supportive, enjoyable and rewarding as possible.

3. What you would like to do to ensure STEAM students’ voices are heard.

• Actively reach out: I will continuously take note of ideas, opportunities and challenges affecting our STEAM community. Rather than waiting for feedback to come to me, I will actively reach out to department reps across the faculty through direct conversations, surveys, and collaborative community events.
• Facilitate communication: I will collate the feedback and present these ideas to key decision-makers to ensure the priorities of students are directly on their agendas
• Promote transparency: I am committed to keeping students consistently updated through every step of the decision-making process, so that students always know where their feedback stands and what progress is being made
• Champion student experience in UCL culture: I will strongly advocate that students’ lived experiences are fundamental to UCL’s culture and values, ensuring that mindset remains front and center whenever major faculty decisions are made
• Collaborate with others: I will work alongside the SU Education Officer to explore structural and meaningful improvements

4. 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.

• Regular insight gathering: I will send out monthly structured check-ins and feedback forms directly to the presidents of STEAM societies and department reps across the faculty. This will establish a consistent line of communication to gather insights into student ideas, ongoing experiences, and pressing concerns.
• Collaborative action plans: I will work directly with society leaders and academic departments to collate these insights and co-create practical, actionable plans that directly address our community’s needs.
• Effective advocacy with decision makers: Once these plans are developed, I will take them to the key decision-makers to ensure the collective voice of our societies and reps leads to real structural improvements on and around campus.

I hope to unite our reps, societies and faculty leadership under a single organized approach and ensure that every department in the faculty of MAPS sees genuine, positive change.

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

I absolutely would hold myself accountable. I would take full responsibility by:

• Proactive notification: I will notify the event organizers and fellow faculty representatives well in advance to let them know that I cannot attend, and request if a recording of the session can be arranged.
• Thorough catch-up: I will thoroughly review the meeting recordings or meeting minutes as soon as possible to ensure I remain completely up to date on all discussions and decisions made.
• Action: I will identify any specific areas requiring action, reach out to the team, and actively coordinate with them to figure out how I can contribute and support the next steps.

Missing a meeting will not mean missing an opportunity to represent the students in my faculty. I will make sure I am always informed, engaged, and actively delivering results.

Candidate: Aditya Raj

1. What faculty are you running for? What is your department and degree?

I am running for Faculty of mathematical and physical sciences. I am doing my MSc in Risk, Disaster and Resilience (Sept 2026 intake).

2. What do you have planned should you win your election.

My plans are to focus on connecting students to build some products that are useful. You may wonder how? The answer is that I am also working to start a venture that will need people from my department. I will act as a bridge between students to work on interdisciplinary projects and interact freely with each other.

3. What you would like to do to ensure STEAM students’ voices are heard.

STEM students are already doing great but one thing I would like to change is that we don’t have time for building connections among other departments. I will try to build more connections by informing students about other departments and their timetable. So this way they can engage not just with their classmates but also with other departments.

4. 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.

To find out more about Aditya’s plans, he recommended checking out his website: https://www.adiraj.me/

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

For the last question, I would make myself accountable for that. But I will try my best to attend all the events and meetings. If I miss something I will also contact the organizers and ask for minutes of the meetings and submit my side of feedback to them prior to the start of the meeting.

Candidate: Minnie Wang

1. What faculty are you running for? What is your department and degree?

I am running for the Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences Undergraduate Representative position. I am currently a second-year BSc Chemistry student at UCL.

2. What do you have planned should you win your election?

One of my main aims is to make students across MAPS more connected. Although we are in the same Faculty, we come from different departments, and sometimes we take modules from other departments as well. This can make it harder to know who to contact when we have questions or concerns. At the same time, different departments have different ways of solving issues, and I think there is a lot we can learn from each other. So I would like to create a space, maybe a WhatsApp or Teams group, where students and Academic Reps across MAPS can communicate, share their experiences and help each other.

One of my main aims is to make students across MAPS more connected. Although we are in the same Faculty, we come from different departments. Sometimes, this makes communication more difficult, especially when we take modules from other departments. For instance, we do not know who we should contact when we have questions or concerns. On the other hand, because we have different ways of solving issues, there is a lot we can learn from each other about how to overcome challenges. Therefore, I would like to create a space, possibly a WhatsApp or Teams group, where students and Academic Reps across MAPS can communicate, share their experiences, and help each other.

I have been involved in student representation since high school, and I continued this as a Chemistry Academic Rep during my first year at UCL. These experiences have taught me to listen to different opinions and take responsibility for what I do. For example, last year, I worked with other Reps on a Student Workload Heatmap and organised the information into a Gantt chart to help students plan their workload. I would like to learn how other departments manage this and see whether we can share useful ideas across MAPS. I know that everything can’t be changed straight away, but I will take my responsibilities seriously and do my best to follow through.

3. What would you like to do to ensure STEAM students’ voices are heard?

From my experience as an Academic Rep, I learned that communication should always go both ways. One aspect I really like about UCL is that students are welcome to share their concerns and discuss them with staff members. Last year, through our DSPC meetings, I saw how students’ feedback could actually lead to improvements. However, it is also important to let students know what happens afterwards. Hence, after meetings or discussions with staff members, I would usually share updates in our year group chat, including what we had discussed, what responses we received and whether there was any progress.

I would like to continue doing this at Faculty level by working with Academic Reps from different departments. Through the space I mentioned earlier, students will be able to share their ideas or concerns more easily, and we could also keep everyone updated on what is happening. Of course, not every issue can be solved right away, but that doesn’t mean we should stop trying. I want students to know that their voices matter and that their concerns will be considered.

4. How do you plan to work with departments or societies to lead change on and around campus?

From my perspective, the first step is to understand what different departments and societies are already doing and what students actually need. As a Chemistry Academic Rep last year, I gained experience communicating with staff members through DSPC meetings and following up on students’ concerns. Also, I am a Catering Officer in the Chemistry Physical Society currently, where I have had opportunities to meet students from different years and hear about their experiences outside lectures.

I would like to utilise these experiences to work with more people across MAPS. For example, societies organise different activities throughout the year, and I could use these opportunities to meet students who may not usually share their feedback through formal channels. If I notice that students from different departments are facing similar problems, I could elevate these concerns and work with other Reps to see what can be done. It is absolutely crucial to understand the problem first, rather than promising changes before knowing what is actually needed.

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

Yes, of course. I take meetings seriously, especially as being a Faculty Rep. If I couldn’t attend, I would definitely let the others know in advance and ask another Rep to deliver any concerns I had collected from students. Afterwards, I would check what was discussed and whether there was anything I needed to follow up on.

Missing a meeting doesn’t mean I can just leave everything to others. I will still do my part and ensure that students’ concerns are not forgotten.

Candidate: Yuang Teng Zi He

1. What faculty are you running for? What is your department and degree?

I am running for the Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences. I am a first-year Mathematics student in the Department of Mathematics.

2. What do you have planned should you win your election.

If elected, my priority would be making sure students’ concerns and questions get answered within a reasonable time. I know students often receive very late replies, or none at all, when they raise issues directly. I would act as their voice, passing their concerns on efficiently to the relevant teams and following up until they are resolved.

3. What you would like to do to ensure STEAM students’ voices are heard.

I would hold regular open feedback sessions and run a short anonymous survey each term, so students can raise concerns without feeling put on the spot. I would also use social media polls and Q&As so quieter students can contribute. I would then share what was raised and what was done about it, so students can see their input leads to action.

4. 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 use my content creation skills to make advertising and sharing information online more fun and enjoyable, and use this to encourage student engagement. I would work with departments and societies to promote their events and opportunities through short, engaging content.

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

Yes. If I missed a Zone meeting, I would read the minutes and contact the other reps the same day to catch up on what was discussed. If I knew I would be absent, I would tell the Zone in advance and send my updates in writing so the students I represent still have a voice. I would also check in with my departments and societies afterwards to make sure any actions were followed up. However, I know I am someone who would not miss meetings like this unless something unavoidable happens.