RCSU President and Committee
The RCSU President controls a budget of over £50,000, organising a range of academic, social, careers and pastoral events representing the interests of over 3200 Undergraduate students. You directly liaise with senior members of staff and sit on various College and Union committees. These include the Faculty of Natural Sciences Teaching Committee, Community & Welfare Board, Union Council, as well as others.
You are also directly responsible for managing a committee of 19 people to ensure the RCSU works to its best capabilities in representing students and working closely with the Faculty of Natural Sciences. Joint with the Honorary Treasurer, you will also manage the five departmental societies in the Faculty of Natural Sciences and ideally ensure inter-departmental relations are maintained. The President is also responsible for securing sponsorship with the VPO and developing strong bonds with sponsors, maintaining ties with the RCSA and ultimately oversees the work of the Executive Committee.
This position is ideal for a confident team member and natural leader. It is imperative that you work professionally and with integrity, and are clear of what is required of each team member. You will also need excellent time management, especially if you wish to balance the presidency alongside your degree. This role requires a significant amount of work; however it is an exceptional learning experience and can be highly rewarding.
For more information contact Lloyd James by emailing rcsu.president@imperial.ac.uk.
The VPO is responsible for coordinating the procurement of sponsorship for the RCSU. In addition, the VPO chairs the Operations Board to ensure the services the RCSU provides - such as our website, social media and our magazine, Broadsheet - are the best they can be. You also oversee the academic and welfare branches of the RCSU. Please note that due to the timeframe in which several companies review sponsorship applications, you will be require to start work on this from Easter as the VPO-elect alongside the current VPO.
The VPA is in charge of organising events for the RCSU and encourages coordination between the Departmental Societies. You are also responsible for upholding the traditions of the Union. You chair the Entertainments Board, oversee all social events and liaise with the President and the Treasurer to ensure events stay within budget.
The Hon. Sec. keeps minutes for all RCSU Meetings, and chairs any General Committee meeting. They also help with the organisation of activities of the Union, assist the Executive and any societies with any administration work, and assist with the running of the office. You are a key member of the team, so time management, organisational and communication skills are necessary.
The HJT looks after the finances of the RCSU Exec and gives advice to the Departmental Society Chairs and Treasurers. You will also be required to do invoicing, budgeting and dealing with payment requests from suppliers.You will also oversee the expenditure and accounts of the Departmental Societies. You will be managing a huge budget so integrity, financial responsibility and enthusiasm to learn the Union’s finance system is necessary.
As Welfare Officer you will be required to organise welfare events across the year as well as the annual ‘RCSU Welfare Week’. You will work closely with the Deputy President (Welfare) and represent students on relevant Imperial College Union committees (Union Council and Community & Welfare Board). You will meet with students who require assistance individually, whilst ensuring any relevant welfare information is distributed to all students.
The AAO sits on Union Council, Faculty of Natural Sciences Teaching Committee and Staff-Student committees, ensuring that the students of the Faculty are being fairly represented academically. You work closely with the Deputy President (Education), Dep Reps and academic staff to improve teaching standards across the faculty. You will meet the Dep Reps frequently, and chair an Academic Affairs Committee to keep things ticking along smoothly.
The Science Challenge Chair is responsible for the organisation and supervision of Science Challenge, the RCSU national essay writing competition. This includes organisation of the launch and final, creating a Science Challenge Committee and contacting potential judges.
It will require you to heavily liaise with the Faculty of Natural Sciences and you should expect to start some groundwork for the event before your role officially begins. This requires significant time management, organisation and commitment, but is highly rewarding. Please note that due to the limited availability of high-profile judges, you will be required to start work in Easter to start planning next year’s competition.
The WCO maintains the RCSU website as well as designing the emails and other web-based communications of the RCSU. You will also be responsible for utilising the latest and most innovative frameworks to develop our online media. Excellent problem solving skills and an understanding and interest in web development is essential.
The Broadsheet Editor is responsible for the RCSU’s termly magazine, Broadsheet, produced with the assistance of a team you will recruit. You will also need to prepare the Freshers’ Handbook which is to be distributed before the start of the academic year. Access to a modern iMac with Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator is available to help you with your very own publication.
It is the role of the Sports Officer to help gather teams for Faculty competitions and tours across a range of sports. You will be responsible for organising fixtures and liaising with other faculties and sports clubs so organisation, teamwork and communication skills are necessary.
The Events Officer is responsible for helping to organise events. You’ll get to both improve the RCSU’s existing events, and come up with brand new events. You will play a key part in coming up with exciting ideas for the RCSU’s events, and will need to solicit opinions and feedback from the wider student body to make sure the RCSU’s events are what they are looking for.
The Publicity Officer is responsible for ensuring that all events are well attended and well publicised. Creativity, imagination, professionalism and organisation skills are necessary as although this role requires a significant amount of time, your work will be displayed to over 3,200 Undergraduate students. Access to a modern iMac with Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator is available to help you make some fantastic artwork.
The RAG Champion is the officer responsible for coordinating fundraising events to help raise money for ICU RAG and other charities the RCSU decides to assist. You also get to help organise all manner of other events and come up with some charity focused ones. You sit on, but do not have a vote on, the ICU RAG committee to represent the RCSU’s members.
The Dep Reps sit on RCSU General Committee. They also attend Education & Representation Board meetings. They deal with their department in Staff-Student committee meetings and self-arranged meetings aimed at ensuring issues of students are resolved. They also meet frequently with and coordinate Year Reps, ensuring any issues are raised and resolved rapidly.
The Exploration Board Representative attends the Exploration Board meetings throughout the year to decide which expeditions the Board should fund, alongside offering practical guidance and official recognition to those students who want to go on an expedition. You can find more about the Board and its work at imperial.ac.uk/expeditions. You should also be the first point of contact for all RCSU students who are thinking about approaching the Board regarding an expedition. You will not sit on any RCSU Committee.
