Get to know the new Presidents’ Team and their goals for the coming academic year.
So, it's been a little while since the old presidents' team handed over, and we have been very busy settling into our new roles and office! But we thought it was time to introduce ourselves properly and talk about our goals for the year:
Emily: Hi, I’m the 2026/27 President for Arts, Humanities and Business, overseeing the schools of Art, Design and Architecture; Law, Humanities and Social Science; and Plymouth Business School. I completed both my BA and MA in Education at Plymouth, and am extremely passionate about student wellbeing and inclusion. Community is, in my opinion, at the heart of everything we do here at UPSU. From helping you to find a home-from-home within a society or sports club, advising you on any issues that you may encounter throughout the year, and providing a wide range of fun activities, we are here to help you make lasting friendships and memories outside of your course.
Poppy: Hi, I’m the new President for Science and Engineering. I look after three schools in my faculty: the School of Biological & Marine Science, the School of Engineering, Computing & Mathematics, and the School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Science. I’ve been at the university for 4 years now, initially studying BSc Ocean Science & Marine Conservation before moving on to a master’s in Hydrography. To me, the SU is all about supporting students while they are studying, though giving advice on anything and everything, helping you find people with similar interests in clubs and societies or by providing a space to socialise.
Vriti: Hi, I’m Vriti Tangri, the 2026/27 President for the Faculty of Health, representing the Schools of Dental, Medicine, Biomedical Sciences, Health Professions, Nursing and Midwifery, and Psychology. I have been at the university for my master's in clinical psychology, and as an international student myself, I understand how important it is to feel supported, connected, and included during your time at university. To me, the Students’ Union is all about creating a sense of community whether that’s helping you find your place through clubs and societies, offering advice when you need it, or providing opportunities to make the most of your university experience.
As a team we came up with four core goals that will hopefully help us to make the most out of our time as Presidents and have a successful year. We thought we would share these goals and what they mean to us and how they will hopefully help you:
1. Accountability
Ensuring that we provide regular update you on our progress and are open to feedback
We are here to make a difference, and we want you to hold us to that. As part of this, we will be sharing regular updates about what we are doing as well as holding forums at the start and end of each term. We hope this will give you the opportunity to give us feedback about what matters to you and for us to be able to share our progress. We want to be able to close the loop on feedback and response. If you raise an issue, it is our responsibility to keep you updated on the progress and outcomes.
2. Advocating and awareness of student services
Ensuring you are aware of the services available and how to use them and doing our best to maintain those services, so they are an effect tool for you to use.
Whether you need support, advice or just to borrow a book from the library, the student services are there for you to use. We want to make sure they are accessible to you when you need them the most and that you know where to find them and how to use them. Whether they are an SU resources like the advice page or university based like wellbeing services, they are all indispensable to your experience as a student, and we want to make sure that everyone understands that and respects the services that are provided.
3. Visibility
Ensuring you know who we are, what we do and how to find us
We think it is important for our team to be seen so that you know who we are. Viability isn’t just about being seen physically to us; it also includes being transparent about what we are doing. As Presidents, it is our job to advocate for the student voice and experience. Whether we are running events (we have lots planned so watch this space!) or attending meetings with the University such as Board of Governors and the Teaching Learning and Quality committee, our priority is always improving the student experience. In line with this goal we have also moved office, you can now find us in the Hive when we aren’t about in the SU or on Campus so feel free to come and say hi or ask us about what we are up to!
4. Team presentation
Ensuring we are tackling tasks together and present a united front. We are at our strongest when we work together.
Last but by no means least, we are your Presidents’ team, and we know it important it is that we stand together. While we may represent our different faculties, we support each other in everything we do. We are your representatives no matter your faculty, school or course. We have also taken on different leads; this is so that it is easier to decide who goes to what meeting, and we will be sharing with each other what we are getting up to at our weekly catch ups. Maintaining strong team values is crucial to being effective in our roles, but we cannot all do everything all the time. We rely on each other for support and advice daily because we know that together we are strong.
So that is who we are and what we hope to do in the coming year. Keep an eye out for the Your Presidents’ Team logo on Instagram and the SU website to know what we are saying, doing or sharing and we will see you all in September!