Five Minutes With: Grace Baird

What’s your job title and how long have you been at Loughborough?
I am the Student Support Manager for the Loughborough University London campus and I have worked for the University for 5 years. My role involves management of London Student Experience and London Student Services ensuring that from the moment students join us to when they graduate, they feel supported and have an outstanding experience studying at our London campus. I also lead on the activities and projects which focus on embedding Equity, Diversity and Inclusion into our student lifecycle.
Tell us what a typical day in your job looks like?
There is no typical day in my role and I am fortunate enough I get to work in a job that I love but also continues to challenge me and keep me on my toes!
An example of a day I had recently in my role involved arriving to our London campus and being greeted by my lovely colleagues and starting my morning by catching up on emails and completing my duties as the supervisor of London student attendance. I then had an array of meetings throughout my day which included:
- Meeting with our London Sport Student Ambassador to discuss upcoming sport activities
- Meeting with staff and students to discuss how we develop areas of the London student experience offer to ensure we are always improving and listening to student feedback
- Co-ordinating the planning for our London September 2025 Induction and making sure this Induction will be our most exciting one yet!
I then finished off my day working on an EDI project I am leading on all about embedding EDI into the student lifecycle, and tidying everything up all ready to go again tomorrow!
What’s your favourite project you’ve worked on?
My favourite project is one I am currently working on which focuses on gaining insight into student understanding of EDI topics and embed EDI into the student lifestyle. EDI is a topic very close to my heart and one I have a strong professional and personal interest in. Our London campus is rich in diversity and culture and it is fascinating to learn from our students to cultivate an inclusive and respectful environment here in London.
What is your proudest moment at Loughborough?
The proudest moment for me each year is seeing our students graduate; having worked closely with and supported so many of them during their time studying with us, it is incredibly heartwarming to see them walking across the stage to collect their degree and know you had some part (big or small) in helping them achieve this.
Which University value do you most resonate with and why?
The University value that resonates with me the most is being Authentic. Everyday I come to work as my authentic self and help to foster an environment within my team where we can all be honest, support each other and respect one another.
Tell us something you do outside of work that we might not know about?
Outside of work I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, particularly my 3 little cousins who remind me of the simple joys in life and how happiness often comes from the smallest moments. I am also a big animal lover and one of my favourite times of the day is to come home work to a big cuddle with my cat Freddie and my black Labrador Finn. Finally, I am a huge Taylor Swift fan and my day would not be complete without listening to her songs!
What is your favourite quote?
Never be so kind, you forget to be clever. Never be so clever, you forget to be kind – Taylor Swift
If you would like to feature in ‘5 Minutes With’, or you work with someone who you think would be great to include, please email Lilia Boukikova at L.Boukikova@lboro.ac.uk
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