Meet your Hallam SU Officers: Their priorities and advice for the 2025/26 academic year

Walking through Hallam Green and the new city centre campus, there’s a return of that bustling atmosphere not seen during the summer months.

With new buildings, new students, and new beginnings, the start of the semester brings a feeling of a fresh wave of energy. A feeling which clearly extends to the motivated new officer team at Hallam Students’ Union (SU).

At the helm this year is SU president Molly Pemberton. She’s joined by returning officers Layla Barrett (wellbeing, sport & physical activity) and Shafaq Sajid (international students), along with new team members Ebuka Hilary Obi (business, technology & engineering), Franklin Okafor (social sciences & arts), and Leah Steel (health, wellbeing & life sciences).

The 2025/26 officers began their roles in July and have already hit the ground running with plans and campaigns to represent students on key issues like the cost of living, wellbeing, employability, and much more.

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Some of this work is continuing from last year, such as the successful campaign towards cheaper bus travel. Although with franchising not expected until 2027 and some providers raising their fares, it is an area where there’s “a lot more work to be done”.

“There’s a lot of national work at the minute around free bus passes for under-twenty-twos but we recognise that only covers half of our student population,” Molly explained.

“There’s a lot of short-term actions that we can do while also ensuring we’re in those spaces for the wider long-term piece of work, which is the franchising.”

To move forward with regional goals like this, the SU works with the South Yorkshire Combined Mayoral Authority, has been meeting with regional SUs, and is in contact with the Sheffield Central MP Abtisam Mohamed – who Molly said is a “huge advocate for students and international students”.

Work is also continuing around sustainability. Last year the SU passed its Ethical Careers and Investments policy, and is now working with the university on it, with reports that it has been “quite receptive”.

As part of this, officers have met with the University of Sheffield People and Planet Society, and attended the training day for SOS UK (Students Organising Sustainability).

Ebuka, who is leading on the policy, said the university had “made it clear that sustainability is a priority for them.”

Under her brief of community, Molly is also aiming to support liberation groups, saying: “We want to better consult those student groups on issues that we’re campaigning around, while also improving our provision for those liberation groups.

“I think societies are a huge asset and building those connections and communities among students really helps support each other.”

Officers have their own priorities, which are worked on throughout the summer training period and are approved by the board of trustees.

Six semester priorities for the team are then decided at a “belief forum”, with an officer assigned to each.

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Shafaq will be continuing her efforts with inclusion, wellbeing, and employability support for international students – particularly focusing on “preventative” measures to stem problems before they become an issue.

“I think the major issue the students face once they are here is the homesickness, the loneliness, and, of course, mental wellbeing,” Shafaq, who is also an international student, said.

“Then the cost of living, finding a job, securing a placement, is a big issue when you are new to a country and don’t know anyone. These are the main concerns they have, so the union is here to help them with them.”

Communication will also be a focus, looking at improvements for passing on information about visas, accommodation, and assessments.

For social sciences and arts, Franklin is looking at improving university communication, clearer assessment criteria, activities to support students’ wellbeing, and tackling the “big challenge” of the cost of resources for students.

Detailing his work to date, he said: “I’ve been able to get some of the past alumni to support students with materials they used during their studies.

“I’ve been working in collaboration with one of the academic staff, Cathy, who has also given away some free books for students to benefit from.”

Molly, who was last year’s SSA officer, added: “We did a lot of work last year on our creative industries department because we heard a lot of feedback from art and design students that they were struggling to afford to pay for additional course costs, like materials that aren’t provided.

“I know there’s a lot of work sector wide on basic needs at the minute, but it was also shocking to hear that students in law and justice have to pay over £200 for textbooks. So I think the free book giveaway is such a good opportunity.”

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Ebuka is working with the university to address issues around workload management, software accessibility, and timetabling issues across business, technology, and engineering.

He said: “Over 50 per cent of students work part-time to support themselves alongside study. I don’t think the timetable is being adapted to be flexible enough to support students to do that.”

“Students have more responsibilities and are a lot more time poor these days, so it’s really key that they are supported throughout their academic experience,” Molly added.

“We have a lot of issues around timetabling, year in, year out, and employability is really important to our students – not just after they graduate, but also while they’re a student here, whether that’s placements or internships or part-time jobs.”

Alongside Shafaq, Ebuka is also working on the early stages of a project for students to gain applied skills and “bring ideas to life here on campus”.

Health, wellbeing and life sciences officer Leah will be working on community and inclusion initiatives (such as introducing inclusive sport opportunities like wheelchair rugby), strengthening employability, and boosting placement support, including making placements more accessible for disabled students.

She said: “Many students find placements overwhelming, struggle to access course-specific career support and want more inclusive wellbeing resources.

“I’m addressing this by expanding the Placement Support Plan, tailoring career content for HWLS students, and working with the SU and university to prioritise wellbeing and inclusion.”

For Layla, there are plans for a website where all the information is in one place for students to make it easier to navigate and signpost students to available services.

On the sports side of her brief, inclusion is another priority, particularly by raising awareness of funding opportunities that give a hand up with membership fees.

“If students do want to do it competitively, there’s loads of ways we can support that, such as the sport hardship fund that we can use to support students that are really struggling to pay the membership,” she explained.

“But this year, our social sport is now for free so I think that will really help with getting more students involved. It’s less full-on, less commitment, but they can still have fun and meet people.”

Another big target for the year? Varsity. With the University of Sheffield on an eleven-year winning streak, what does team Hallam need to do?

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Layla thinks it’ll all be about the mindset and building 2025’s contest, when the point difference was reduced from 28 down to just 11.

“I think it just shows if you have the right mindset, then you can achieve better things,” she says.

“Last year my netball team lost all our BUCS games, and then the game we won was Varsity. We went into it a bit low, but we all just pushed hard and we were together as a team.”

Asked for their main piece of advice to students, the officers’ answers were unanimous: Get involved.

“Just get stuck in with as much as possible,” Molly said. “Whether that’s with your course, joining societies, becoming a course rep, volunteering, or taking on part-time roles – just equip yourself with all the experiences and skills that you can before you graduate.

Meet the officers: Q&A

Molly Pemberton

President

Credit: Dan Jackson

Shafaq Sajid

International students’ officer

Credit: Dan Jackson

Layla Barrett

Wellbeing, sport, and physical activity officer

Credit: Dan Jackson

Ebuka Hilary Obi

Business, technology, and engineering officer

Credit: Dan Jackson

Franklin Okafor

Social sciences and arts officer

Credit: Dan Jackson

Leah Steel

Health, wellbeing, and life sciences officer

Credit: Dan Jackson