The Students’ Union (UBU) is home to sports, societies; media areas and volunteering.
There is a wide variety of societies on offer ranging from departmental societies to international and religious societies. In total, there are more than 70 different societies – so plenty of choice for everyone!
Don’t forget to ‘Like’ the Team Bradford – Societies Facebook page
Societies are at the heart of Team Bradford at UBU, which gives everyone a sense of identity and belonging. There is a true family feel regardless of whether you are part of a sports club or a society or even both!
All UBU societies are part of the Societies Federation (SF) which is led by the Activities Officer. Each society is led by a group of students who become the Society’s Executive. There are usually a number of positions available on the Executive and students have to stand for election to be voted into these positions. Examples of positions include: President, Secretary, Treasurer, Events Officer etc.
Being a member of the Exec team for a society is a great way to get involved and it looks great on your CV! You learn so many skills such as team-working and negotiation as well as leadership skills and confidence.
I am currently the Public Relations Officer for the Bradford Association of Pharmacy Students – BAPS for short. BAPS is one of the largest societies on campus and in fact, is the largest departmental society.
Some of the BAPS Exec with guest speakers at an educational event
BAPS aims to bring together pharmacy students across all years, hosting regular social events including events relating to careers and placements as well as sports and charity events. One of the highlights of the year is the annual Paracetaball, held to celebrate a year’s worth of hard work and achievement.
Planning and promoting these events requires a lot of hard work but at the same time can be incredibly rewarding. You need to be super organised and need to be able to take into account everyone’s ideas and availability.
Already this year, BAPS has played host to a number of educational events and socials. We had a massive turnout at our Meet & Greet event in September and our ice-skating social. The tea party fundraiser in aid of Movember was also a popular event! BAPS was very proud to host The Many Paths of Pharmacy event in which a number of external speakers attended to represent their respective line of work. This highly attended event which was held in the Richmond Building at the University of Bradford was also attended by pharmacy students from the University of Huddersfield.
A few members of the BAPS Exec at the Movember Tea Party Fundraiser
BAPS have a number of events planned for Semester 2 including further educational events, Laser Tag and another ice-skating social. Not to forget our annual Paracetaball – a not to be missed event!
The BAPS Vice-President and I at our ice-skating social
Being the Public Relations Officer for such a large society is a challenging role. Posters need to be designed and printed and regular posts on social media are crucial in order to best promote events. As well as these, the BAPS Exec and I send out regular emails to society members and promote events by lecture shout-outs.
In addition to my role on the BAPS Exec, I am also the Communications Officer for the SF. As Communications Officer, my role is to advise societies on advertising and marketing, as well as to oversee the Society of the Month initiative. I also attend a weekly meeting with the other SF Exec members where we review new society applications and funding applications. I post regularly on the Team Bradford – Societies page. Be sure to like this page to keep up-to-date with all society news and events and see the brilliant work which our societies do! #TeamBradford
Being involved with BAPS and the SF is lots of fun and is a great way to meet new people and try something different. I have learnt so many skills which I am sure will benefit me in the future when applying for jobs. I cannot emphasise enough how wonderful an opportunity it is to get involved with the Students’ Union and particularly with societies. There is something for anyone and if there’s not – you can always create your own society.
A photo from a recent BAPS event
My next blog post will be about the Careers Service and my role as a Career Ambassador – Happy reading!
Alykhan Kassam
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