Volunteering as a Society Leader at Roehampton
Every Society was once an idea, brought to life by passionate students.
Anybody can volunteer as a Society Leader, and Roehampton is home to all kinds of student-led communities - all the way from performing arts to course-based communities, cultures, or religion.
Our Society Leaders benefit from training, 1:1 tailored advice, and opportunities for development - we aim to set you up for success in leading and delivering activities at Roehampton, this has led to recognition within the University and at national award ceremonies.
Whether you’ve volunteered with us before or are starting out for the first time we strongly encourage you to get involved and can't wait to hear your idea.
Get Inspired
Start a New Society
To start a Society with us, you'll need to complete our New Society Proposal.
We ask you recruit a committee of a minimum of 3 other Society Leaders, and to collect the details of 20 interested students to show the Society is viable.
Once you have returned this to us in-person or online, we will review your proposal to check it is feasible and doesn't repeat the work of an existing Society.
We then invite you to an Induction Meeting with the Activities Team to hear about what you want to achieve, explain volunteering with us in more depth so you can fit it flexibily around your studies, and prepare you for your role through our dedicated training modules and opportunities for ongoing support.
Adopt a Society
Sometimes, Societies go inactive due to its Leaders graduating or moving on - we put these Societies up for adoption, and enable interested students like you to restart them!
There are all sorts available to adopt from Afro-Caribbean Society, Feminist Society, Vegan and Animal Welfare Society, and Music Society.
This can be a great stepping stone to Leading a Society, as these Societies tend to have already hosted activities on campus for you to draw inspiration from and have money left over in their budget to get you started.
Role Profiles
Society leadership is a voluntary position, and people of all backgrounds and experiences get involved.
All Society volunteers benefit from:
- A dedicated member of staff at RSU to provide ongoing support, problem solving, and opportunities
- Training and induction to your new role
- A clearly defined role profile outlining the tasks and responsibilities of your role
- Opportunities for recognition of your achievements such as the annual RSU Awards
To look at a more detailed role description for each Society leadership position, please click on the role descriptions below:
Accessible Volunteering
We believe volunteering as a Society Leader should be accessible to everybody and a wide range of students get involved each year.
In line with our Student Volunteering Policy, if you have any questions about the practical arrangements of volunteering with us please get in touch for a confidential discussion.
A wide range of students volunteer as Society Leaders, with a quater being mature students and half declaring a known disability (data as of 2023). Volunteering is flexible and reasonable adjustments can often be made. Please reach out to societies@roehampton.ac.uk if you would like to discuss this with our support staff.
International Students' Volunteering
As an international student, if you do not have the right to live and work in the UK without restriction you may be concerned about taking on a volunteering role at RSU as the Home Office places restrictions on 'voluntary work'.
All RSU Society Leadership roles do not constitute 'voluntary work' and therefore do not contribute to your restrictions. This is broken down in further detail here:
Society Leadership does not:
- Require a contract with RSU
- Entail being provided work by RSU that requires you to attend at particular times to carry out specific tasks
- Renumeration of any kind (though we do pay back reasonable and agreed expenses)
- Replace a paid-employee or role
If you are ever in any doubt about this please email societies@roehampton.ac.uk to get in touch.