Natasha Pooley is a 4th year student in Politics and the candidate for the Vice President Student Activities (VPSA) in the upcoming SRC elections. She has been a member of the Student Representatives Council (SRC) for a year and a half, where she acts as SRC Gender Equality Officer. She enjoys helping her fellow students and she is involved in multiple societies. She is also involved in the Nerd Collab and FemCollab, which are both coalitions of societies that work together to perform activities related to their shared interests as a collective. This year Pooley is on six society committees and has helped co-found a society during her first year at the university. Pooley stated that her involvement with societies and her time in the SRC has allowed her to understand what works and what does not.
Pooley’s main goal is to make all student activities more inclusive and accessible. Pooley wants to ensure that all events are open and accessible all the time. One of her suggestions involves creating a quiet room accessible to everyone during events. Her main focus is however on Freshers’ Week events, especially on the Freshers’ and Refreshers’ Fairs, and she wants to ensure more communication with societies in preparation for and during these events. “You need time to plan, you can’t plan a Freshers’ week in a couple of days. [It is necessary] to have quicker and better communication and societies need to know where to go on the day” said Pooley. Moreover, Pooley highlighted the need to provide societies with the option to express any accessibility requirement they might have during such events, arguing “[Freshers’ and Refereshers’ events] are not accessible to walk everywhere”. Lastly, she aims to streamline services, namely the [SRC] grant application and approval processes. She noted “students and societies struggle with that, so [these processes] need to be made more accessible with a clear web page”.
To conclude, Pooley says “I have the experience to be really good at the job. I have been in nine societies, 14 positions and co-founded a society. I spent a lot of time at the university making a change, and in council I have done a lot of work.” Natasha expressed in her manifesto how it is “important to listen to students, learn from what doesn’t work well and make everything we do meaningful. Hold events that they want, and provide the support they need to flourish.”
You can read Pooley’s full manifesto below:
Hi, I’m Natasha. Your current Gender Equality Officer and hopefully your next VPSA!
My experience:
- I have been involved with a lot of societies on campus, holding 14 committee roles in my four years at Uni. This has shown me how meaningful societies are to student life, but also has given me first hand experience with issues committees face.
- I have also been heavily involved with both the Nerd Collab and FemCollab.
- Having been a member of the SRC Council since October 2024, I understand how the SRC works, what works, and what doesn’t and how to achieve meaningful change
- I have volunteered at three SRC Welcome Weeks. First as a helper, then a DL and finally as Team Leader in 2025!
I have done a lot in my time here, from making graphics, to helping with the fantastic chaos of RAG to planning a black-tie ball. Planning. With the SRC I have sat on Welfare forum and Student Experience, helping push through sensory rooms on campus, campaign for divestment and establish SRC fidget toy bank.
I want to use the role of VPSA to make sure students and societies thrive at Glasgow. From freshers in their first week being made to feel at home, to supporting committees in creating a community and putting on fabulous events.
If elected, I will:
- Improve communication with societies regarding stall allocations (Freshers and Refreshers)
- Campaign for an additional card machine
- Advocate for room booking access on weekends
- Bring back free tea and coffee during exams
- Lobby Estates for better vending machine options in the JMS
- Demystify the Grant application and approval process
I have loved my time as an SRC Volunteer, but I know there are a lot of ways the SRC can do better. If elected, I would improve communication with societies in general but particularly around Freshers and Refreshers. Societies need time to prepare and organise shifts. They also deserve input on where they are, who they are near, and their accessibility requirements. On Welcome Week, crowd management and congestion has been a big issue in recent years, so I would tackle this making it a much more enjoyable experience.
It is important to listen to students, learn from what doesn’t work well and make everything we do meaningful. Hold event that they want, and provide the support they need to flourish.
I would continue to lobby the University to divest from arms, and push for the University to go even further and fully adopt the Emily Test Charter. Furthermore, I would push to make our campus easier to navigate and more accessible. The current timeline for making our campus accessible is not acceptable, all students deserve equal access now!
Vote Natasha #1 for VPSA!
