FAR FROM HOME. NEVER ALONE. A LIFETIME OF STORIES.

Queen’s University Belfast should give us more than a degree. Whether we graduate with a Master’s or a PhD, we should leave with stories to tell, lessons to share with our children and grandchildren, with a few friendships that cross borders and last a lifetime, and memories that bring a smile to our faces years from now.

Imagine sitting in the comfort of your own home years after graduation, looking through photographs of your time at Queen’s: the friends you made, the events you attended, the challenges you overcame and the moments that made you laugh. Imagine sharing those memories with your children and grandchildren, telling them about the place where you pursued your dreams, discovered new opportunities and found people who became part of your story.

That is the university experience I believe we should be working towards.

For many of us, coming to Queen’s means leaving behind our families, our homes and everything familiar to pursue a dream. We arrive with ambition, courage and hope, but the journey can also bring loneliness, financial pressure and uncertainty. Even for those who have always called Northern Ireland home, university brings its own challenges and opportunities to find new connections.

I believe our Students’ Union has an important role to play in making that journey better.

As a postgraduate student studying MSc Artificial Intelligence, I want to help build a community where students feel heard, supported, included and connected—a community where we can pursue our ambitions without feeling that we have to face every challenge alone.

If elected as Postgraduate Student Councillor, I will focus on three priorities:

1. A voice that matters.

I will listen to postgraduate students, raise their concerns at Student Council and scrutinise Students’ Union priorities to help ensure decisions reflect students’ needs. I believe a Union should always remember who it exists to serve: its students.

2. A Stronger Postgraduate Community.

I will advocate for more opportunities for postgraduate students to connect beyond their courses, departments and research groups. From social gatherings to cross-disciplinary activities, I want to help create a community where students can build friendships, share experiences and feel part of Queen’s, not just their individual programmes.

3. A community that feels like home.

I will champion inclusion and stronger connections across the postgraduate community. Whether you have travelled across the world or grown up close to Queen’s, your journey matters, your voice deserves to be heard and you deserve to feel that you belong.

I cannot promise to solve every problem, but I can commit to listening, asking constructive questions, working collaboratively and keeping students informed about progress. I want to be a representative who does not simply speak about students, but listens to them and brings their concerns to the places where decisions are made.

One day, our degrees may hang on the walls of our homes, tucked away in dusty old files or forgotten in a drawer, but our stories will live with us forever.

Years from now, I hope we will remember not only what we studied, but also the people who stood beside us, the friendships that crossed borders, the communities that welcomed us and the experiences that helped shape who we became. I hope we will have stories to share with our children and grandchildren about the place where we pursued our dreams, overcame challenges, learned from one another and found a sense of belonging.

When that day comes, I hope we remember Queen’s not only for the qualifications we earned, but for the people we met, the challenges we overcame, the opportunities we embraced and the community that helped make our journeys worthwhile.

Because our time at Queen’s should be about more than earning a degree. It should be about building a future, finding our people and creating stories that last a lifetime.

EVERY JOURNEY MATTERS. EVERY STUDENT BELONGS.