Our latest weekly update aims to share with you the latest work of the Officer team to advocate for change and improvements to the student experience during this challenging period.
Our latest weekly update aims to share with you the latest work of the Officer team to advocate for change and improvements to the student experience during this challenging period.
Hardship Funding
Following on from last week the hardship fund has been discussed with the University and we have offered staff support to process the requests from students. We have continued to push for fair distributions among the students who need the support as well as ensuring that the criteria for receiving the fund is as unbiased as possible. If you are eligible you should be contacted about the fund however, if you haven’t been contacted but feel you are in profound hardship, book an appointment with the Union Advice team for support in applying to the fund.
What’s on?
This week is set to be an engaging week for our activity groups from 15th- 19th February we kick off RAG Week II where all of our students will be fundraising and raising awareness for important causes. Wednesday 17th February be sure to join in with the RAG Committee's bingo night with Mukky Duck raising money to support Gosnall District First Responders, who provides amazing immediate care and support for those in need. For the duration of the week you can expect to see other RAG Week events delivered by student groups; UODDT will be hosting a week long Virtual Bake Off challenge raising money for MIND and UODMFC will hosting their week long Keeping up with 2021 challenge supporting CALM. Check out the events listings for more information on how you can get involved with RAG Week.
Our LGBTQ+ History Month events continue with a brand new addition from our partners at Native. We’re thrilled to be hosting an exclusive Q&A with acclaimed speaker and activist, Paris Lees. Paris Lees is an English journalist, presenter, and transgender rights activist. She topped the Independent on Sunday‘s 2013 Pink List, came second in the 2014 Rainbow List, and was awarded the Positive Role Model Award for LGBT in the 2012 National Diversity Awards. The event is completely free and everyone is welcome!
Vice President (Education), Nina, has been working with the University’s Sustainability task force to plan a series of engaging events and activities for Go Green Week, to improve awareness of issues affecting us on a local and global scale.
Lockdown Lootboxes
We are happy to announce Union lockdown lootboxes have begun to be distributed to self-isolating students, in these boxes you can expect to find tea and biscuits, ideas to pass the time away from the screen. To enter the draw to receive one of the Lockdown lootboxes please visit the COVID Hub. We would also like to thank our sponsors the Co-operative and Hard Seltzer who have supported us with contents for the box.
As ever, if you need to talk to someone the Union of Student’s Advice team provides a free, confidential advice and support service for all University of Derby Students. This includes Buxton and Leek College students, Access, University of Derby Online Learners, and students studying at Partnership Colleges around the world.
Independent to the University, our advice is completely impartial for any student seeking advice, support and information on a range of issues and concerns. Our main areas of advice include; academic issues including offences, appeals and issues affecting personal studies; student conduct, complaints and disciplinaries.
We can also support and signpost for many other issues including finance, housing and wellbeing.