Volunteers are our biggest asset, and we love showcasing their achievements.

Help support volunteer recognition by nominating a peer support volunteer as Volunteer of the Month!

Consider nominating a volunteer in any of the following roles:

• PAL Leaders (including academic and language)
• Senior PAL Leaders
• Peer Mentors (including Doctoral, Placement and Exercise Peer Mentors)
• Lead Peer Mentors

Nominations can come from any university staff or students who wish to recognise excellent achievement and/or commitment as involved in the Peer Support programmes. Volunteers are also welcome to nominate themselves.

To make a nomination please fill in the form below and ensure to include the full name of the volunteer as well as a brief description explaining why they have been nominated.

Submit a nomination

Nominations close on the 20 of each calendar month.

Previous winners

May 24 - Bronwyn Ellis

Bronwyn has been a highly motivated Lead Peer Mentor this Semester. She was nominated for an Education Award because has been noticed by staff within the School of Management for her work in creating events for mentees, including a social football match, and a placement event for BB1’s. Bronwyn also volunteered to co-facilitate a workshop with staff in Careers for Peer Mentors to be able to reflect on their journey. Excellent display of dedication to her role as Lead Peer Mentor.

April 24 - Tess Burton

Tess was nominated by her Senior PAL Leader. The application read; 'Tess should be the volunteer of the month not only because she is an amazing second-year physics student but also because of her brilliant work as a PAL leader for the first-year physics students. In the past semester, she showed her responsibility as a PAL leader by attending all PAL sessions and debriefs'.

March 24 - Lara Amro

Lara has displayed enormous resilience and passion for her love of languages , consistently showing up for her Arabic Language PAL Sessions whilst creating exciting and engaging content for her peers. Lara has shown great dedication to being a pal leader, going into her 2^nd semester undertaking this role. Thankyou for bringing the Arabic culture to your peers!

February 24 - Penn Mackintosh

What was said about Penn; 'Their dedication to what they do is insane, not only constantly helping me with individual queries as my peer mentor, but also helping to organise really engaging pal sessions and ensuring the content is concise yet dense'.

 

January 2024 - Hatim Aessa

From PAL sessions to additional study support, Hatim consistently goes above and beyond to create supportive and engaging spaces to support students in the Pharmacy department. It's great to see how he makes use of the Peer Support resources and proactively responds to students' needs.

 

November 2023 - Daisy May

Daisy May originally signed us as a Peer Mentor and Lead Peer Mentor for Natural Sciences but swapped her course to join Physics over the summer. Despite this, she still honoured her commitment to helping out at the Nat Sci Peer Mentoring events during Welcome Week on top of supporting Physics with their event too. She has been described in her nomination as being 'a star for the Faculty of Science'.

October 2023 - Physics PAL Leaders

Justin Sylvestre, Tess Burton and Jack Tweddle were nominated for their hard work getting Pysicals PAL back on the schedule after a year off.

All three volunteer their time each week to plan and deliver tailored PAL sessions for first year Phyics students. Providing an informal space for students to cover the tricker aspects of their course, its also allows them the opportunity to ask questions they might not feel comfortable asking their lecturers.

 

April 2023- Moselle Mintah

Moselle... "impressed me and the other visitors [at the Language Cafe] very much with her competent and friendly way of facilitating the session for German. She had prepared her own cards and other written materials for her group, and by the comments afterwards it was clear that the participants truly enjoyed their learning."

March 2023- Chemistry PAL Leaders 

Anna, Isobel, Hannah and Emma..." do an excellent job of planning and delivering the PAL sessions and are very enthusiastic about bettering the PAL experience every week... I've heard rave reviews about their performance from their lecturers and students as well, detailing how helpful their sessions have been in them clearing their doubts and confusion about the course content."

February 2023 - Charlotte Shingleton

"Charlotte has been nominated for Volunteer of the Month for her various contributions to Peer Support. She is a Lead Peer Mentor and has just produced an excellent Peer Mentor Blog to help advertise what it's like to be a Peer Mentor."

January 2023 - Sunny Park

"Sunny deserves Volunteer of the Month because she is an enthusiastic and dedicated Senior PAL Leader. She is a great communicator and has received lovely feedback from her PAL Leaders about how much they appreciate her support."

 

December 2022- Vienne Hiu Yi Lin

"Vienne is an outstanding Senior PAL Leader. She has done a wonderful job so far this year supporting the  Language PAL Team and working with the Peer Support Team to support the smooth running of the scheme."

 

November 2022- Hannah Bennett and Federica Zaccagnini 

"Hannah and Federica are amazing and have absolutely gone above and beyond with the support they are offering to their mentees, and it’s so lovely to hear how rewarding this has been for all sides. I really think they deserve Peer Volunteer of the Month, as they are incredible and deserve all of the awards and accolades!"

 

November 2022- Sofiia Kornatska

"Sofiia has done a brilliant job supporting their mentees, making sure that those who were struggling could get support from them and followed procedures perfectly when issues arose.

 

October 2022 - Ava Caven 

"Ava Caven did an outstanding job after putting herself forward to lead the Education Peer Mentor Welcome  Event. Due to this, she has made sure that the incoming mentees feel welcomed and supported."

 

April 2022- Shuchi Naik

"Shuchi has held a number of peer-led workshops to develop students’ skills on topics such as effective communication, beginner cooking, and placement preparation as well as written blogs on LinkedIn and exam revision tips and techniques to reach a wide audience. She's promoted inclusivity for all, especially international students when helping to set up the new Cooking Club division of Student Training."

 

March 2022 - Lead Peer Mentors for Business

"Kyia, Wiktoria, Bronte and Amanda have done a tremendous job of co-ordinating the Peer Mentoring scheme and arranging a super Peer Mentoring Launch Evening at the start of Semester 2. They have also come up with an innovative idea about using pre-paid vouchers for soft/hot drinks to encourage in-person peer mentor/mentees meet ups and to allow us to keep tabs on the engagement in the scheme. They are absolute superstars and I am so grateful to them for all of their amazing support!"

 

March 2022 - James Golding

"James has been exemplary in leading the Biosciences PAL sessions. He is constantly looking for ways to make the sessions lively and engaging for those attending, often planning activities that will encourage them to move around and interact with each other as much as possible."

 

February 2022 - Wan Chi Hsiao

"Wan Chi has been exceptional in volunteering time and effort to assist the Peer Support Team with the Peer Mentoring scheme. She has consistently helped out by providing us with recruitment materials and committing her time to ensure that the scheme is promoted to potential Peer Mentors!"

 

February 2022 - Amna Khalid

Amna has been amazing in leading the Biosciences PAL sessions. Although it is really tricky to run sessions for multiple courses, she helps make all the sessions fun and worthwhile. She is always focused on the needs of the students and always finds time to speak to them individually or in smaller groups."