Name: Edwin Marr

Course: PhD, English Literature, 3rd year

Volunteer Role: AHSS Post Graduate Research Rep

“I enjoy seeing actual changes being carried out. It is an enormously satisfying feeling”

What are your main duties and how do they benefit others?

I represent the PhD students within the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, and I work to get their voice heard on committees across the university. As well as attending regular faculty meetings, I also meet with the doctoral school and senior management to work to elevate the PhD experience, feedback any concerns voiced by our Post-graduate researchers, and offer a voice for our PhD students on matters relating to their studies at ARU.

What have you enjoyed most about volunteering?

Seeing actual changes carried out. Identifying a problem, working with the relevant department or individuality, and getting that problem resolved. It is an enormously satisfying feeling.

What skills have you learnt and used during your volunteering?

Communication skills is probably the biggest thing I have learnt during my time as PGR rep, learning who to communicate with, and how to get my voice, and the voices of the students I represent, heard in an effective manner.

What inspires you to volunteer?

Knowing that working as a PGR rep, can make such a difference to the experiences of our PhD students, by ensuring that their voice is heard.

What is your favourite volunteering memory?

Being sent pictures of the cockroaches that had taken over the PhD room and being asked to resolve it, has to be a particular highlight!

What are your future career aspirations?

I aspire to work as an English Literature lecturer after finishing my PhD, and for me, volunteering as a PGR rep offers a fascinating insight into the mechanics of university life.

Why do you love volunteering?

Meeting so many different people within the faculty, gaining such an insight into the behind-the-scenes operations of the University, and having the opportunity to work for real, meaningful change.