It’s National Volunteers’ Week!
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It’s National Volunteers’ Week, and we are jumping at the chance to celebrate our global volunteering community at the University who are inspiring others and helping shape our world for the better. Just this year more than 2,300 volunteers have donated more than 6,500 hours of their time – it’s been a very busy year for our alumni volunteers!
This year, our alumni continued to support key events across the University as speakers, organisers, and attendees. At the Liverpool Literary Festival Dr Amir Khan (MBChB 2004) talked about his novel How (not) to Have an Arranged Marriage and Professor Dame Averil Mansfield reminisced about her trailblazing career as the UK’s first ever female vascular surgeon.
Dr Amir Khan
Many alumni have given their time to organise class and School reunions. We have welcomed back graduates from many class years and subjects, including Medics from Class of 1968, a 1980/81 Derby Hall Reunion, the Sloman Loungers and the School of Architecture alumni reunion. Reunion organisers put a lot of effort into planning activities and bringing alumni together, and these events could not have happened without them.
School of Medicine Class of 1968 reunion
Sloaman Loungers reunion
We never fail to be amazed by the dedication of our alumni to help improve student employability by offering mentoring opportunities, placements, and work experience. For example, Sir Stephen Cobb offered marshalling experience this year for three law students in the High Courts in London as well as delivering a lecture to mark the Law School’s 130-year anniversary celebrations. University Chancellor and US District Judge, Wendy Beetlestone, has shared her expertise through mentoring law students, delivering talks, and has recently awarded two competitive internships for law students to join her in Pennsylvania.
Mr Justice Stephen Cobb with three law students
Volunteers have also given their time to support other Schools, and Management School alumni have been very busy this year. Thank you to alum Ian Milner (CEO of Iris, marketing agency) who hosted final year undergraduate Marketing and Business Management students at the agency’s headquarters in London. Several Management School alumni also returned to help with curriculum activities, including judging a poster presentation for the Accounting and Finance group.
Nazia Ahmed, Finance Operations Analyst at RSA and Accounting and Finance Class of 2021 graduate said “It was great to be back at the University of Liverpool as an alumna. From being a student myself, to now quizzing current students on their corporate reporting presentations, was a nostalgic experience!”.
Accounting and Finance Presentation Event
The University of Liverpool Veterinary Alumni Association (ULVAA) continues to strengthen their community through sharing alumni news, attending the Careers Fair at the Leahurst campus, participating in accreditation activities with the School, offering grants to enhance the student experience and arranging the University of Liverpool School of Veterinary Science 120th Anniversary Celebration Ball 2024.
ULVAA Committee member, Nicola Beesley, and alumni at Leahurst Careers Fair
It has been an exciting year for international volunteering with new alumni-led networks being established across the world and events taking place in countries like the UAE, Nigeria, Singapore, and China.
This May has seen the first University of Liverpool Around the World event series take place following on from the success of last year’s ULMS around the world series, with over 10 events taking place in places such as Switzerland, Nigeria (3 events), Portugal, Canada and Saudi Arabia. These events have all been led by volunteers with nearly 500 graduates registering in total.
Alumni event in Zurich
Our volunteers in China have been busy supporting alumni networking and student recruitment events across the country. Highlights include the Shanghai City walk for alumni and friends, with a new route arranged by alum Yu Yang (MA Architecture) and a Beijing event that brought together 60 alumni, prospective students and staff from the University to offer prospective students the opportunity to learn more about studying in Liverpool. Alum Yukun Dong (MSc Management 2020) treated the attendees to a rendition of the Beatles’ Hey, Jude!
Yukun said “[…] I feel deeply honoured to be part of this great event in Beijing as a volunteer. […] This event allowed me to reconnect with my alma mater, meet with fellow alumni in Beijing, staff from Liverpool and prospective students who are going to Liverpool who will be like me one day, becoming a proud University of Liverpool graduate. Every moment at the event will be cherished as the most precious memory of this April. Hope we will meet again!”
Beijing prospective student event
Shanghai city walk
Our online event series with volunteers from across the globe; Liverpool Leaders and Bringing the World to Liverpool (BTWTL) have continued to grow this year. We have been joined by the likes of Dame Ann Limb (Former Chief of the Scout Association), Professor Shirley J Thompson OBE (Royal Music Composer), Paul Broadhurst (CEO of Technetix) and Hans Brown (Chief Information Officer of Corporate Trust and Depositary Receipts at BNY Mellon). You can watch previous events back here.
And the list goes on! Graduates have been supporting activities in all corners of the University, including Career and Employability events and initiatives, student enterprise activities, mentoring programmes online and in person, and much more.
While we could not list all activities and initiatives, we are extremely thankful for all the support that our volunteers have given to our students, staff, and alumni community. On behalf of the University of Liverpool, we would like to say a big thank you to all volunteers who have given their time to help the University community! Your support has a long-lasting impact and allows our students and our alumni community to thrive.
Keep up with how we are marking this year’s National Volunteers’ Week celebrations on Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn via the University of Liverpool page.
If you would like to find out about the volunteering opportunities available, check out our volunteering offer.