This blog post is part of a series of monthly posts detailing the activities of the DR President’s Team (President: Leah Henrickson; Vice-President: Hugh Tawell).

Note: This post refers to PhD/EngD Students as Doctoral Researchers (DR) and Postgraduate Researchers (PGRs). This is because the University uses the former language, and the Union uses the latter.

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How is February already over? The shortest month of the year turned out being one of our busiest. Here’s what we got up to.

Postgraduate Quiz Night

On 4^th February, we co-hosted a postgraduate quiz night at the Doctoral College with the LSU Postgrad EO and the PhD Social & Support Network. The quiz was designed and led by a Doctoral Researcher from the Design School, who did a fantastic job testing participants’ knowledge of obscure facts and Loughborough landmarks. The evening ended in a tense tie-breaker, when two teams were asked to recall the age of the quiz master’s cat, which had been mentioned in passing earlier in the night. It was like University Challenge, but with more cats and laughter.

Research Committee Meeting

On 5^th February, Leah represented PGRs at the latest Research Committee Meetings. In these meetings, all of the Associate Deans (Research) (ADRs) and other members of research support services from across the University discuss issues related to research on campus. These meetings cover a lot in three hours, the ADRs are all very aware of Doctoral Researchers’ unique needs and they shared some of the ways they were supporting their students’ research.

PGR Lead Rep Meeting

On 20^th February, we hosted our second PGR Lead Rep meeting of the academic year, with all of the Loughborough-campus Schools represented. The Reps offered feedback on some proposed changes to student ID cards, responded to updates at the LSU, and updated one another on how their own Schools were doing. The Rep meetings are a great place for everyone to bounce ideas off each other, and we’re looking forward to seeing what all the Reps have gotten up to when we next meet with them in April.

Night Out at the Union

What a way to end the month! On 23^rd February, we co-hosted the second Postgraduate Night Out at the Students’ Union with Kamal, the LSU Postgrad EO. More than 250 postgrads and their guests boogied until the wee hours of the night, with five DJs keeping everyone on their feet. We can’t wait for the next Night Out – hopefully we’ll see you there.

The photo accompanying this post is of Leah and Hugh at the Night Out.

LSU Elections

We spent the campaign period for the LSU Elections shouting about postgraduates’ unique needs; you can read our Twitter coverage of #LSUElections here. The Union offers a lot for postgrads, but there’s still room for further improving the postgrad experience. Postgrads make up about a third of the University’s population, and we strove to get candidates thinking about them

We’re now currently working on sorting out an event for postgraduates with families, as well as another low-key film night (much needed after that night out). Keep your eyes peeled for invites in the biweekly Doctoral College bulletin.

If you want to keep up-to-date with our activity, join the ‘Doctoral Researchers of Loughborough University’ Facebook group and follow us on Twitter. If you’re a London student, join the ‘Loughborough Students’ Union London 2018-2019’ Facebook group.

Leah and Hugh.