Abdirahman Ahmed has been elected as your new Postgraduate Officer for 2020/21. Abdirahman was declared the winner after one round of voting with 781 votes. Impact caught up with Abdirahman to ask him a few questions.
What are you most looking forward to in your role?
I would say 3 things, firstly, it’s the challenge of strengthening and bringing the postgraduate community together. The second which I know may sound cheesy, but genuinely making a difference both in terms of constitutional changes to Postgraduate remit and the network. Lastly, it’s welcoming both our new postgraduate members and existing regardless of whether its digital or physical events although there should be a good mix of both throughout the year.
What was the highlight of your campaign?
My highlight would have to be talking to some of the other candidates throughout the week and working with my amazing campaign team. I enjoyed talking to so many wonderful candidates and as we were all in the same position- we took great comfort in being able to talk to each other about the current challenges. My campaign team was also my main highlight as they were always so patient with me and supported me all the way through thick and thin.
Were there any aspects of campaigning you found challenging?
I would say the hardest challenge was not being able to do in person campaigning as I like connecting with people in person more than digital, so it was hard to adjust and bring my authenticity to online campaigning. The other was you couldn’t tell with online elections how well you think you were doing as it’s not the same as the traditional campaigns. However, for both I would say this is something most other candidates speaking to have found challenging.
“My first current priority at the moment is supporting our Postgraduate members in all aspects due to the Covid-10”
How will you be celebrating?
I am very low on sleep so I think I have some catching up to do but I will also be piling on the Kinder Bueno chocolates as I stopped eating them for a few weeks due to being on a diet and now is the perfect time to break them and buy a 30 pack to treat myself. I also want to host a zoom party to all those who have helped me and celebrate with them as I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them.
What’s the first thing you’re going to do in your role?
My first current priority at the moment is supporting our Postgraduate members in all aspects due to the Covid-19 and what this has meant for example PGT regulations and classification. The second is working closely with the graduate school to making sure our PGR members are being supported during this time and lastly looking into the summer it’s shaping what the future of new and on-going members will look like next term and how we can make sure they are all supported and providing more events especially digital events in these current circumstances.
Congratulations again, is there anything you’d like to say to the people who voted for you?
I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who voted firstly, regardless of who it was for, as it was amazing to see so many students exercise their democratic right to vote especially during unforeseen circumstances. I want to also give a shoutout to all the media groups for adjusting and still being able to cover the elections. I also want to give a huge thank you to the people in marketing and repdev for adjusting in these very difficult times and doing so well getting it all together. Finally a mammoth thank you to those not just in my close campaign team (Yazan, Zeina, Hannah, Ashley, Fayez, Zoe, Anna, Dahlia, Hassan and many more!) but all those who helped and supported me throughout the week and every single one of those who voted for me. I am so grateful. Thank you so much.
Emily Casey
Featured image courtesy of Nina Sasha.
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