Third year Law and Politics student Caitlin Ellis (picture below) is committed to improving the student experience of her peers at the University.

A lead member of the Law School’s Student Voice Representative team for two consecutive years and a member of Keele’s Law Society, Caitlin also won the Keele Students’ Union ‘Student Voice Reps Above and Beyond’ award at the end of the last academic year. The accolade is given to a Student Voice Representative (SVR) who has overcome a challenge and worked hard to achieve change within their programme or School.

Caitlin said, “All the voice reps did an outstanding job last year and deserve recognition for their hard work. I really focused on student conversation and building a network that the student body feel they can come to, and I think that’s what set me apart when the SU were considering the nominees for its awards.”

Student Voice Representatives (SVRs) are students who make a real difference to their academic community by speaking to their cohort, listening to concerns, and providing feedback to their School to help improve course quality and the experience of being a Keele student. Suggestions that SVRs have supported previously include ideas for curriculum development, assessment feedback and creating online resources. Every course at Keele has its own SVR and you can find your School’s Lead SVR here.

Having previously volunteered as a Student Voice Representative in her first year before becoming a Lead Representative in her second year, Caitlin supported new reps by organising meetings to share different ways they could connect with their year group, such as through anonymous feedback forms and QR codes displayed on screens at the beginning of lectures so students could provide immediate feedback. She also briefed them on how meetings were conducted and made sure all SVRs had gathered feedback from their peers before the first staff/student meeting.

Changes that Caitlin introduced in the last year include a newsletter that she co-developed with fellow Law student Meg Forrest to share events with other undergraduates, anonymous feedback forms, PALS (Peer-Assisted Learning and Support) where she encouraged students to study together and use peer support to improve their revision, and regularly reminding students how to contact the Law SVR team through promotion in lectures and her newsletter. She also researched lecture timings and the structure of the timetable to ensure it worked for students balancing other commitments alongside their degree and made module handbooks more user friendly and easier to use.

For students struggling with feedback they’d received in assessments, coursework or exams, Caitlin set up drop-in sessions, as well as directly messaging them so they could share their concerns or queries. She then collected the required evidence and reported it to the education committee. Following meetings with the committee, Caitlin then relayed information back to students on the appropriate actions to take next, as well as offering advice and support with this.

In addition to creating positive change for your peers, becoming an SVR can also help you to develop employability skills such as leadership and negotiation, advocacy, and communicating with a variety of audiences. Caitlin explained, “Being a Lead Student Voice Representative has helped to broaden my ability to communicate with a wide range of people, and to liaise between my cohort and the staff at the Law School. It’s also helped to further my ability to lead a team of students, developed my communication skills and improved my organisational skills in managing both my workload and personal commitments, as well as running the SVR programme.

SVR representatives for this academic year have now been announced and Caitlin will be supported this year by a second Lead SVR, Tia Dhillon. Caitlin’s advice to new reps would be to “get out there and be a positive, approachable person who is always happy to help the student community. The SU team also offers great advice on how to be successful as a rep, so if you have any questions or are feeling a little overwhelmed, they can help.”

Following her graduation, Caitlin hopes to study a Barrister Training Course masters before working as a criminal barrister. She said, “Barristers, especially in criminal law, need to be strong advocates for their clients, often representing vulnerable or marginalised individuals. Serving as an SVR requires advocacy on behalf of fellow students and representing their concerns to the faculty and administration. My experience of being an SVR has built a foundation of representing the interests of others, which is a core skill for any barrister.”