APS Leadership Report April 2022
APS has been actively working to help postgrad students affected by flooding, including coordinating visits to campus from local MPs, liaising with the Department of Housing and Communities to provide immediate support, and launching our flood relief Food Drive, raising funds for and dispensing staple food hampers to postgraduate students affected by the floods that hit Brisbane earlier this year. We are optimistic that the city will not experience a third wave of destructive weather, and any remaining hampers will be offered as ongoing support throughout the remainder of the year for international postgraduate students (until stocks run out).
Unfortunately, the floods have disrupted opening of the Postgrad Lounge, with much of the fit out delayed due to flood damage at the distributor warehouse. We are expecting to have the space ready for use by the end of April at this stage, but postgraduate students are welcome to contact APS about checking out or booking the (currently empty) space. The space will also include the only student-focused Parents’ room on campus, facilitating the feeding of small children (most of whose parents are postgraduate students). Many of the existing parent’s rooms on campus are in inconvenient locations or simply a bathroom with a changing table. We are investigating whether the door between the Women’s collective and the hallway in 21C can be opened to allow mothers to discretely access the space as well.
In addition to providing the new parents’ room, APS will be restarting the student parents group and mature age student group, along with any other special interest groups members may request. These groups provide targeted social support and interaction for members, and will ideally be facilitated by members. These groups are not exclusively accessible to postgraduate students but operated through APS in recognition of demographic distribution.
Our postgraduate bursaries are available now for students experiencing financial hardship that will prevent them from effectively completing their qualifications, with full details listed on the UQU bursaries page. To incentivise postgraduate involvement in Clubs and Societies, clubs and socs hosting postgraduate-focused events (minimum 70% postgraduate attendance) can apply for grants in addition to funds received from the Campus Culture Portfolio. Award of these grants is made in consultation with the VP C&S to ensure fair uptake. Finally, our Faculty Events and Initiatives grants are also available for postgraduate students wishing to organise events in their faculty or institute.
Our website is under redevelopment, where full details of our programs, bursaries, and exec will be published, along with a student blog around postgrad life, skills and general writing. The website will also host the Q3 research podcast. Pending the relaunch of the website, for more information about any of the above, please email postgrad@uqu.com.au.
Will Triste and Richard Lee APS President, APS Secretary