Recently we interviewed some of the members of our wonderful Biomedical Science Society, to find out what it’s like being part of a society and how it can impact your university life.

Can you give a bit of an overview on what's been happening with the society so far this year. How's it going and what you've been up to?
Marni 
Basically, so far we’ve had a microbiology seminar, which was to do with infection and immunity. We've had a clinical scientist from that region to come in, that was quite interesting because in biomedical science, there are lots of different areas to learn from. We have been trying to get seminars from all different avenues. So we had that one, then we had a medical sales one, which is something that isn’t talked about much because it's not usually something you really think about. Then we've got one coming up for biochemistry that’s being taken by one of our lecturers discussing what they’ve done in their career, so that should be quite interesting. Then after that we had a movie night that was like a sci-fi movie night for all biomed students. We've also done like a few day in the lives. Sophie, one of our members, is on placement, so she did one and that one went really well. Everybody loved that and UWS posted it on their TikTok. So that went really well because it was a massive insight into the society and our course. Maryam did a really good poster, basically just explaining what you can do with your degree, like what different avenues are open and stuff. With all that I feel like we're actually getting a little bit busier now at this time of year.

what do you think has been the best thing that’s happened so far in the society?
Marni
For myself, I would actually say like getting to know other people and different students because my year are quite quiet and we are kind of like separated into groups and, you know, once you've got your group, that's kind of it, isn't it? But I feel like with the society I have had the chance to speak to other students. Actually, that's another thing, so I forgot to mention this in the little list. We're actually doing like a podcast and I've interviewed one of the students in my year and it was actually such a funny little 10 minute chat, just like getting to know them. And it was questions like, what are your study methods?
What was your favourite module? Like, why did you enjoy it? What is there something that you would like to do with the degree? What made you go into this degree? So doing a podcast like that with different students. And then from that, we've been able to get to know other students through this.
So I would say that and the fact that we're just growing more and more. It's taking its time, but to begin with we were literally starting from scratch. It's going to be hard work, but it's actually been really enjoyable getting to know more students from different years as well. it's definitely been worth setting up the society. You feel more at home because you're not all the same person, but you all have got the same common interest and I think that just makes it involving and engaging without even realising. So that's been a good kind of like, you know, you feel like you're at home a little bit more, I suppose.

Maryam 
I've actually been really enjoying this. when we started, I literally had no idea where to go or what to do. But it’s been really good because we've had the opportunity to work together, like working on our management skills, planning the seminars and the movie nights, and then managing our budget and learning how to plan things. As Marni mentioned, having the opportunity to engage with more students and staff and even helping us to learn more about our field through the seminars for example is one of the best things that the society offers. So I've really been enjoying it and I'm hoping to learn more and be able to plan more activities that would engage more students.

What kind of impact do you think the society has had on your university experiences so far?
Marni 
last year I was in the society when it was run by the 4th year and I really did not see the point in it. We weren't doing much and I thought, that's not going to do anything for our time here. I feel proud be part of the society now as we are doing more things and its having a positive impact on my degree. It takes you away from genetics or all the hard stuff, and it actually makes you realise why you're doing the degree and why you enjoy it so much. I feel like it's really enhanced my experience, and I've just really enjoyed having an extracurricular something to do.
My biggest thing that I've said to the rest of the girls is to never let it become a chore, always make it enjoyable. the minute you make it a chore; that’s the point it stops being enjoyable.

Maryam 
For me, well, I'm generally a quiet person. By engaging in the society, I feel like it’s really helped me build better social connections and to be more confident in myself. For example, in some of the seminars I started, I introduced the speaker. It used to be very hard for me to talk in front of people so this has helped me a lot. It’s also helped me with my time management because university is already busy especially with doing a science degree, it's not easy, but it helped me overcome that and be able to manage my time better and feel more confident in general.

What do you think has been the biggest challenge about it in terms of running a society?
Maryam   
For me personally, I think the fact that we didn't know where to start and what’s going to be beneficial for both us and the students, like what we can plan, something that's within our budget and everyone would engage with it.
I think that's what we had a bit of struggle with.

How did you figure that out? Or have you found a solution to that yet
Marni

I looked into what other societies have been doing and then once you kind of get a feel for what another society is doing, you can incorporate that into your own and the biggest events by some societies, like I said, was really the movie night. So doing stuff like that, researching, kind of following trends, seeing what other societies are doing, I think that really does help.

Is there anything more that the students union could do to support you?
Marni 
I think because we know that the support is there if we need it and I can just e-mail you for a bit of help or guidance whenever I need it is really good to have. but I think a really good system for us because it does make you feel like you're figuring it out on your own and it does enhance your leadership skills and your management skills. I do enjoy being in the leadership type of role but Some people might disagree.

What do you think is the most important benefit from being part of your society?
Marni
for me and the other students, I'm going to say that I think we have got a lot closer. It's kind of scary at first, but it's like you get closer with the people. I would say Amelia Maryam in Nadia, I've got closer with her because of the sight of having that chat with her and doing that podcast with her was so good and so funny. It was so like chill.

Maryam

I feel the same. I think we had the opportunity to grow closer to each other as a student. It wasn't the same last year. I didn't feel the same. I feel like this year I've had the opportunity to interact more with people, get to know them more.

when you set out doing it in terms of what you thought you would get out of it, did you think it was going to be more focused the academic side of things and helping with that or more on the getting to know other people side

Marni
I think it was more about getting to enjoy meeting people because you're always doing academic stuff in the course. So doing like, as I said, extracurricular in your course, but more relaxed, It's nice to just do something else. There’s definitely more chilling, more getting to know people instead of tough work. We would have liked it to go that that way anyway, if that wasn’t the case, but I expected that for sure.

Maryam
I think maybe next year will be more that way, because I think we just started this year. We were just focusing more on the getting to know people in there this time around

A huge thank you to Marni and Mayram for giving us an amazing insight into the goings on within the UWS Biomedical Science Society!

If you fancy joining the Biomedical Science society, you can sign up here: Biomedical Science

You can also check out a list of all our wonderful societies here: https://www.uwsunion.org.uk/societies/societies/