By Eleanor Barnes, Scitech Subeditor
The SU Elections have rolled around again! You face the important choice of who will best represent the university for Postgraduate Education Officer in 2025.
The Postgraduate Education Officer works to represent the personal and academic interests of the Bristol's postgraduate students to university management executives.
Whilst conducting their advanced research, postgraduates experience an extremely diverse range of needs, with every student facing a completely different set of circumstances. This leadership role ensures that key issues such as funding, supervision, mental health support, and career development remain priorities within the university.
The post is currently held by Gurvin Chopra, whose main focus has been on building community between postgraduates - maintaining their academic satisfaction and wellbeing.
This year's candidates are:
- Sharan Khemlani (Yashika)
- Khushi Agarwal
- Wisdom Kofi Adzakor
- Chhavi Pratap Singh
Sharan Khemlani
A student in Economics, Finance and Management who is a Race Inclusion Advocate within the university's Diversity and Inclusion team, a part of a student research team with the SU, and part of the editorial committee of the student research journal.
Khemlani says she wants to build opportunities for growth and real life experiences through hands-on learning placements, internships, international summits, and research festivals.
Furthermore, Khemlani says that she sees the importance of creating spaces of community for social connection, peer mentoring, wellness, and wants to advocate for more postgraduate representation in student union activities.
Khemlani also claims she wants to help mitigate the financial burden for postgraduates with year-round bursaries, subsidised travel costs, and partial reimbursements for NHS costs.
Khushi Agarwal
An MSc Management (Entrepreneurship & Innovation) student who says she wants to push for an education that prepares you for the real world. Agarwal is an international student with an active involvement in university committees who has promised on her leadership and ability to break boundaries.
Agarwal centres her campaign around ‘infinity’: saying that she wants to create limitless possibilities, continuous growth, and to break through barriers and mentioning that the campaign will involve a focus on AI skills for the future with training sessions and clear AI integration guidelines.
She claims expertise-driven career support is at the forefront of her campaign and wants to encourage the University to collaborate with local businesses to achieve this.
Agarwal is also advocating for increased financial support across the board, including free bus passes, more affordable housing, and raising the hardship grant eligibility threshold.
Wisdom Kofi Adzakor
Adzakor is currently pursuing a MSc in Public Policy and has an active role in student initiatives like the Executive Secretary of the Student Representative Council emphasising his leadership experience.
Previously completing a first-class honours in Public Administration, he was also a Research Assistant at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA).
Adzakor says he will prioritise engaging in initiatives that improve lives and address social inequalities, having worked with UNICEF and the Rural Elevation Project.
Chhavi Pratap Singh
An MSc Business Analytics postgraduate student, Singh claims to be a strong voice and advocate for all postgraduates. He says he wants to become a driving force for solutions and take immediate action on all your concerns if elected.
Singh says he aims to enrich student life by fostering an empowering and engaging academic environment where every postgraduate thrives, whilst highlighting the importance of representation at every level to make this a reality.
His manifesto has a focus on maximizing the summer period: claiming he will fulfil this with engaging events, internships, and career focused workshops.
Student politics are vital to maintaining inclusive environments for all. Every vote matters, assess your options and speak to the candidates; who best represents your interests?
Voting opens at 9am on Monday, 10 March, when candidates begin their official campaigning, and closes at 9pm on Thursday 13 March.
To vote, and look at candidates across all officer roles, visit:
https://www.bristolsu.org.uk/elections
So, who gets your vote for Postgraduate Education Officer?
