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: So far we’ve had a microbiology seminar and a clinical scientist come in that were quite interesting because in biomedical science, there are lots of different areas to learn from and we've been trying to get seminars from all different avenues. We had a medical sales one, which is something that isn’t talked about much in our course. Then we had another one on biochemistry taken by one of our lecturers discussing what they’ve done in their career. After that we had a movie night for all biomed students.
We've also done a few ‘day in the lives’ videos. Sophie, one of our members, is on placement, so she did one about that which went really well. Everybody loved it and UWS posted it on their TikTok. That was great because it gave a massive insight into the society and our course. Maryam did a really good poster explaining what you can do with your degree, like what different avenues are open to us. With all that I feel like we're actually getting a little bit busier now!
What do you think has been the best thing that’s happened so far in the society?
Marni: For myself, I would say getting to know other people and different students because my year are quite quiet and we're kind of 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. We're doing 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 getting to know them. It was questions like, what are your study methods? What was your favourite module? Why did you enjoy it? What would you like to do with the degree? What made you go into this degree? From that, we've been able to get to know other students just by having chats with them. 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 been really enjoyable getting to know more students from different years. It's definitely been worth setting up the society. You feel more at home because we’re all different people but we’ve all have got the same common interest and I think that just makes it involving and engaging without even realising. I feel like we've created a little home for ourselves.
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, then managing our budget and learning how to plan things. As Marni mentioned, having the opportunity to engage with more students and staff has been helping us to learn more about our field through the seminars. This in my opinion is one of the best things that the society offers. I've really been enjoying it and I'm hoping to learn more and to be able to plan more activities that would engage an even greater number of students.
What kind of impact do you think the society has had on your university experiences so far?
Marni: I was in the society last year but didn’t understand the point in it. Now I feel proud be part of the society as we are doing more things and its having a positive impact on my degree. It takes you away from 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 really enjoyed having something extracurricular 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.
Maryam: For me, 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 also helped me with my time management because university is already busy, especially doing a science degree. It's not easy, but it's 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 in terms of running a society?
Maryam: I think the fact that we didn't know where to start and what was going to be beneficial for both us and the students. We weren't sure what we could plan and achieve, something that was within our budget and would engage everyone. 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. Once you get a feeling for that, you can incorporate that into your own ideas. Some of the most popular events are social ones and movie nights. 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 is really good to have. I think this is a really good system for us, because it does make you feel like you're figuring it out on your own but you're not left completely stranded if you need a hand with anything. I enjoy the challenge of being in this leadership role.
What do you think is the most important benefit from being part of your society?
Marni: I'm going to say that I think we have got a lot closer. It's kind of scary at first meeting new people, but once you spend more time with them you definitely get a lot closer with them.
Maryam: I feel the same. I think we had the opportunity to grow closer to each other as students. It wasn't the same last year but I feel like this year I've had the opportunity to interact more with people, get to know them better.
When you set out creating the society, did you think it was going to be more focused on 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 something related to our course, but more relaxed. It's nice to just do something else. It’s more chilling and more getting to know people, instead of tough work.
Maryam: I think maybe next year we will look more at the academic side of things, because we only really got started this year. We were focusing more on the getting to know people this time around.
A huge thank you to Marni and Maryam for giving us an amazing insight into the goings on within the UWS Biomedical Science Society!
