About Me

Hi, I’m Joshie, your VP Education!

So, where the hell did I come from?* I started at Southampton on a four-year integrated Mathematics MSc and ended up becoming one of those students who says yes to every opportunity that gets thrown at us! I was a Course Rep, then a School President, as well as spending two years on the SUSU Senate! A university highlight for me has always been the open days, where I started as an ambassador and later delivered welcome talks! I gained a massive passion for student voice and representation, and delivered two years of my school’s Buddy Scheme, giving me the experience and a lot of determination to want to work to expand the peer support offering at Southampton! Gotta also give some love to my beloved Maths Society, which was my first time involved with all things SUSU!

I’m a massive nerd at heart; I love collecting puzzles, Rubik’s cubes, dice, and all sorts of other mathsy things! My other interests include Dr Who, a variety of calming sandbox-style video games, and a massive range of fiction (plenty of SciFi). My favourite author is either Juno Dawson, Douglas Adams, Lisa Williamson, or Terry Pratchett, depending on who I’ve read most recently…

I also take all my notes (both in lectures, and now as a Sabb) in pencil, and right now there are a total of sixteen Helix Oxford HB Pencils on my desk, along with a rainbow rubber duck, a plush rabbit, a monkey mascot (from a famous brand of tea), some shapes (a wooden cube and a marble cuboctahedron), and a mug containing all the spare biros that I’m desperately trying to give away to penless passers by.

*Sussex, technically

What do you do as VP Education

The Sabbs all do a million and one different things, but my focus is on all things Student Voice within your academic journey here at Southampton. This means working with your Academic Presidents and your Course Reps, supporting them throughout the year, and bringing students’ views to higher-level university projects. It also means I massively encourage any student to email me (vpeducation@soton.ac.uk) with feedback, views, questions, or requests they might have for changes, be that across the wider university or just within your school.

I’m also the Sabb that’s here to support everything related to PGR voice and representation, I’m here to support our Academic Societies, and I’m open to dropping by to support absolutely any projects involving our students!

What I’m working on

This year I’m planning a big student consultation around Exams, largely around your papers themselves (the rubrics, the content and weighting of exams, how easy it is to revise for your exams, etc.), but also around the experience you might have in an exam hall (reducing noise and disturbance, making timetabling smoother and exam regulations clearer, and helping to redesign the support that is received in AER rooms to make sure that we deliver a truly supportive and equitable experience).

I’m also designing more buddy schemes and peer support services to launch over the coming years, and I’m determined to demonstrate good practice to University staff around ensuring students are able to have a better work-life balance.

University meetings I attend

There’s a ludicrous number of things in my calendar, so here’s a snapshot:

• Education and Student Experience Committee – The ESEC is where all the educational policy is set, and where we receive reports from all across the university to keep track of the education being delivered. Student voice is SUPER important here as this is where the big work around your student experiences happens! I am joined in ESEC by the VP Inclusion.
• Academic Quality Standards Subcommittee – At AQSS, we are making sure teaching, assessment, and administrative processes are all up to scratch!
• Education Partnerships Subcommittee – The EPSC has the role of monitoring and managing the connections we have with other institutions, companies, and groups.
• Doctoral College Board – This is the leadership body for the Doctoral College, with oversight of PGR Students and Research. I am joined on the DCB by one of our PGR faculty officers!
• University Senate – This is the top governing body for debating matters and approving changes around education, assessment, admissions, and much more! I attend Senate with the Union President and three of our student reps!
• Regular meetings with the University’s Vice-President (Education and Student Experience)
• University Strategic Major Projects and Working Groups:
  • Academic Calendar Review: Did you know we’re changing the academic calendar? We’ve had LOADS of student consultation around this one, and I’ll be involved to bring more student voice as we figure out the implications of the new calendar…
  • Advancing Assessment Project Board: This is the big University project around assessment, which now has several offshoots around different needs, one of which is AER focused!
  • Gen AI Working Group: In these meetings, we keep afloat of all the goings on regarding the usage of Gen AI across UOS, and work to support and guide those who are exploring Gen AI in their teaching and learning.
• There’s a lot more, and if there’s anything you wanna see more about on this page or in the Sabbs fortnightly emails, drop me a message and I’ll add it!