Celebrating Leeds volunteers

National Volunteers' Week is an opportunity to thank volunteers and celebrate the positive difference they make to our University community.

Leeds volunteers offer students a unique insight into a career and can help them navigate life after Leeds. They can draw on their own experiences to inspire students and give them opportunities they wouldn't otherwise have.

This year, we shine a spotlight on some of the ways our alumni and supporter community give their time, knowledge and expertise to the University of Leeds.

Read on to discover how our volunteers make a difference:

• By mentoring with the Business School
• At alumni careers day
• As Learning Champions
• By hosting reunion events
• By supporting work placements
• Through subject specific volunteering
• At networking events

In the video below, Phil Steel, Head of Alumni and Supporter Engagement at the University of Leeds, shares the impact volunteers have on enhancing the student experience.

“We love to hear from our alumni, find out more about their current role and career journey, and see how we can share their story with students to inspire the next generation," says Olivia Blythman, Alumni Relations Manager, Leeds University Business School (LUBS). Find out more about the mentoring opportunities offered in LUBS below.

This year the Business School welcomed their 100^th volunteer to the Leaders in Residence programme. A network of experienced business professionals, alumni involved volunteer their time to share expertise and insights with management students through business challenges activities, mentoring discussions and networking sessions.

"The students really value these real-life experiences and relate with graduates who have been in their shoes, studied at Leeds and then gone on to forge their own careers.”

The programme connects theory with real-world practice and inspires students as they prepare for their future careers.

The Business School also offers the Nurturing Talent Mentor Scheme. It is one of several mentoring schemes at the University, connecting professionals within industry to undergraduate students with the aim of enhancing their employability, developing key skills and building their professional network.

By sharing knowledge, experience and expertise, alumni can help their mentee develop a competitive edge in the graduate job market by enhancing their personal and professional development. Mentorship can take place face-to-face, by email, phone or video call and those interested only need to commit to a minimum of an hour a month with their mentee.

Along with these mentoring volunteering schemes, alumni can also share their story via an alumni profile, news article or speak to students. Alumna Bridie Tennant (Management with Marketing 2020) returned to campus to talk to students as part of the “Lunch with Alumni” series.

“I found sessions such as these invaluable when I was studying at LUBS, which is why I was so keen to get involved," Bridie said. "It was great to see the interest and enthusiasm for digital marketing, and it was incredible to receive so many insightful and challenging questions about the industry.”

Bridie was delighted to give back and has since connected with several students, supporting them with advice of where to look for jobs, placements and tapping into her own professional network. 

If you are interested in volunteering, then contact our dedicated alumni relations team by emailing alumni@lubs.leeds.ac.uk 

Join us for our Business Open Day on Thursday 20 June 2024 to find out more about opportunities to collaborate with us, inspire our students and learn. 

In April, the Faculty of Environment held its first alumni careers day for postgraduate researchers. Attendees enjoyed various panel discussions led and supported by alumni, who shared knowledge on how to progress in the sector.

“It was an incredibly inspiring and empowering day," said Professor Bernadette Moore, Head of Graduate School, Faculty of Environment and Professor of Nutritional Sciences.

"We welcomed back 19 alumni from across the four schools of our faculty, who gave over 60 of our current third and fourth year postgraduate researchers hope and inspiration for life after their PhD.”

The event provided ample opportunity for current PhD students to find out how they can get the most out of their time at Leeds. Alumni panel sessions covered various paths to success in industry, private and public sectors, and a buffet lunch provided an opportunity for networking with attendees and the University Careers Service.

The event was a great success. With over 19 alumni volunteering their time to take part in panel discussions, students had the opportunity to learn about a diverse range of topics and backgrounds. Thank you to all alumni who supported with this event - your knowledge and insight helped our students gain more clarity on the sector they wish to work in.

Fill out our Alumni Volunteers Registration Form to express interest in career day opportunities.

Learning Champions are alumni from the Lifelong Learning Centre who share their experiences with the current cohort.

When outreach teams talk to students in college and community settings about studying at university, they often hear participants say they’ve never considered it as an option because no one in their family has been to university before. This is where Learning Champions play a powerful role.

Learning Champions volunteer to take part in a range of activities at the Lifelong Learning Centre that inspire others to consider attending higher education. Many of our students who’ve chosen to study at Leeds mention that being able to hear from and meet our Learning Champions had a massive influence on their decision.

In the video below, current Learning Champions talk about why they love volunteering and what the impact of their time has been.

Fill out our Alumni Volunteers Registration Form to express interest in similar opportunities

Stepping into the role of a host for the first time, alumni volunteer Yi Chun shares her story of organising a reunion event for fellow Leeds alumni in Taiwan.

What inspired you to host an alumni event?

I attended a few alumni events in Taiwan after I graduated from Leeds in 2017. This was my first time hosting an alumni event. I was nervous yet excited because knowing that I could meet more Leeds alumni around the local area made me feel that all the efforts in planning the events would have been worth it.

I was delighted to volunteer to host an alumni event in my hometown Kaohsiung. I was thrilled to learn that the attendees were all looking forward to meeting other alumni. Some passionate participants even offered to help search for possible venues for future gatherings!

Do you have any highlights from the event?

The highlight was having a great chat with alumni. Hearing other stories from different years at Leeds was quite fascinating. We laughed together, finding out we shared similar experiences of spending endless hours fighting with assignments in the library. We were surprised to learn that some new cafes have opened on campus and some nice restaurants are still running in town.

Our memories in the university were like different pieces of time puzzles, and through our conversation, we put each piece together to get a full picture of the University, its past, present and perhaps future. It was impressive to discover that our experience at the University of Leeds had such an impact on making us more open-minded. We did not know each other before, but our memorable Leeds experience connected us all in that afternoon.

Do you have any advice for alumni who would like to host a similar event?

I would say “Do it, people will have fun!”. I was grateful for the support of the staff from the University, who helped me organise the event in a smooth way - they would be able to help you with yours too.

I would like to express my appreciation to everyone who contributed to the success of this wonderful afternoon - thank you so much.

If interested in either hosting or attending similar events in your country, email the Alumni and Supporter Volunteering Team.

Each year, students on Masters programmes in Art Gallery and Museum Studies and Art Management and Heritage Studies collaborate on placement projects with professional organisations from the museum and heritage sector. Dr Robert Knifton, a University Academic Fellow in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, explores why alumni involvement in these placements is so important.

Placement projects help to connect students and professional, delivering outstanding impact whilst supporting student development. The opportunity provides Masters students with the chance to gain practical experience, build professional networks, and learn directly from industry experts.

Many of the placement opportunities are based locally to Leeds, which provides students with the benefit of learning about the sector on a regional level.

Temple Newsam

A project with Temple Newsam (one of several projects in collaboration with Leeds Museums and Galleries) involved two Leeds alumni in different roles supervising current students. One of them, Louise Atkinson, studied for a PhD in Fine Art and is now a successful artist working on a range of participatory projects. She worked alongside another alum to jointly support current students in developing an augmented reality pilot connected to Temple Newsam's historic Chinese wallpaper.

South Asian Arts

Former Art Gallery and Museum Studies student Barbara Cardone mentored a group on behalf of South Asian Arts UK (SAA-uk). With her expert assistance the students developed a toolkit for cross-cultural collaboration in the arts. When reflecting on her passion for volunteering in this role, Barbara mentioned how important this same opportunity was to her as a student: "My very first steps in the UK arts sector were made through placement opportunities during my MA at the University of Leeds. Being able to work alongside artists, facilitators and professionals, learning about their roles and the often unconventional journeys that brought them to the organisation I did my placement with was an invaluable experience, personally and professionally."

Alumni volunteers were highly important to these placement projects. They offered important insights into the working world, passed on expertise and mentored students. Additionally, being able to showcase how alumni used their degrees to forge career pathways helps to not only connect projects to professional practice, but also demonstrates to students what is possible with a degree from Leeds.

We hope that in a few years' time, the students who benefited so greatly from the experiences alumni volunteers offered through these projects will be developing similar opportunities for our future students.

If interested in either hosting or attending similar events in your country, email the Alumni and Supporter Volunteering Team.

Alumni from the Faculty of Biological Sciences (FBS) have been supporting current students for many years. We asked Alison Kusinska from the FBS Employability & Opportunity team about why it's so important that alumni volunteer their time to talk to current students.

Why are alumni volunteers so important?

They support with such a wide range of activity! The array of volunteering activities expands year on year as the benefits of these collaborations for students, faculty staff, the wider university community and the alumni themselves are realised.

It is so uplifting to reflect on the career journeys and successes of our graduates on these occasions as they give their time and expertise in supporting the career development of others. We hope they can also reflect on and celebrate their own professional journeys at these times.

What kind of volunteering opportunities are available?

Alumni can volunteer at many of our career and employability events, for example the annual student-alumni career connections event. Our alumni community also provide ad hoc support and career development opportunities to students, volunteer as mentors and provide career case studies giving context to the marketing of faculty programmes. These interactions can also facilitate further opportunities to develop closer university-industry collaborations.

Additionally this year, alumni have been working with the Faculty of Biological Sciences digital staff in creating ‘skills videos’ for use in academic teaching, feeding in to the university’s ‘curriculum redefined’ and ‘surfacing skills’ initiatives. Taught MSc graduates will also be providing valued input into the FBS master’s symposium this summer.

How can interested alumni and supporters volunteer with you?

We are so grateful for our alumni volunteers and highly value their commitment and insight in supporting the career development of current students. We hope these collaborations and relationships continue to flourish providing mutual benefits for the whole university community and beyond.

If you are a University of Leeds graduate who would like to get involved in supporting the professional development of current students in the Faculty of Biological Sciences we would be so happy to hear from you.

Explore our website for more information on similar volunteering opportunities.

The School of Law currently has more than 16,000 alumni around the world from more than 115 countries. Loren Sandoval Arteaga, the Alumni and Communications Officer at the School of Law, explores why it's so important to develop strong links with our alumni community.

Alumni volunteering opportunities allow us to maintain and expand connections with our alumni while simultaneously providing opportunities to our current students to learn from successful professionals.

At the School of Law we offer various alumni volunteering opportunities. A popular series of events is the ‘Alumni Networking’ sessions. The aim of these events is to provide current students with an opportunity to make connections with School of Law alumni who now work in law-related roles.

They are a relaxed, networking style event with nibbles and drinks where students can approach whichever guest they are interested in speaking to. Alumni then share their career journeys with the students and give advice on how to find success in the areas of law they specialise in. This year we hosted two networking events, one dealing with career pathways in Leeds and Yorkshire and the other one with a focus on criminal and social justice.

Other popular volunteering opportunities are the 'In Conversation With' events. These events are for current students at the School of Law and they involve an alumnus talking with a School of Law academic about their career journey and personal experiences, followed by a Q&A.

Many alumni also volunteer by sharing career insights and experiences digitally. These are then turned into alumni profiles or news items on the School of Law website. In this way, we can connect with alumni living in every country around the world while also providing our students with insightful and inspiring stories. Just this past term we have had stories from alumni coming from India, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Uganda.

As the Alumni and Communications Officer at the School of Law I can attest to the invaluable impact that alumni volunteering has. It not only strengthens our local and global networks but also enriches the educational experience of our current students.

By sharing career journeys and insights, alumni provide students with unique guidance and opportunities to learn directly from successful professionals. Alumni contributions have a profound impact on our community, inspiring the next generation of legal professionals.

Explore our website for more information on similar volunteering opportunities.