Nominations for the PARSA 2021 General Election have now closed. There are a number of positions that remain vacant of nominations, and PARSA states that it is “currently working to find a solution to find nominees to fill these positions”. Here are the candidates for this election.
Eleanor Cooper will be running for General Secretary and Postgraduate Member on ANU Council. Cooper has been an active part of the ANU community, having been a student for five years, and has engaged with the University through a number of ways from advocating for better pastoral care to joining campus protests.
As General Secretary, Cooper hopes to make online learning and engagement more vibrant by connecting ANU students from across the world, no matter where they are. She also seeks to create stronger links with ANUSA to create a more connected ANU community.
As the Postgraduate Member on ANU Council, Cooper hopes to represent and advocate for postgraduate students’ needs. Recognising that the ANU Council is responsible for the long term strategic decision making of the University, she hopes to open a line of communication for postgraduate students to have their needs heard by the ANU.
Sonia Jeena is a Master of Marketing Management student and will be running for the positions of International Officer and Postgraduate Member on ANU Council. Highlighting the effect that the pandemic had on international students, she hopes to advocate for the safe return of postgraduate international students to Australia and for the University to provide professional mental health support for those studying remotely.
Nancy Zhang will be running for International Officer and Postgraduate Member on ANU Council. Having been in a number of representative positions in student societies at the University of Sydney, she has a wide range of experience in advocating for student needs. Being fluent in Mandarin and English and having lived in four different countries, she describes herself as a flexible and competent cross-cultural communicator. For either role, she hopes to advocate for the issues important to postgraduate students at the ANU.
Zhangcheng (Wilson) Qiang is a current PhD student in the Knowledge Graph Engineering Group and will be running for the College of Engineering and Computer Science (CECS) Officer position. His main priorities will be assisting HDR students with academic skills and excellence, wellbeing and career development. He hopes to expand the social networks of HDR students while helping them to find a suitable work-life balance by organising events such as movie nights, reading clubs and excursions. He also aims to promote multidisciplinary research by running seminars and workshops with people from various academic backgrounds.
Upasana Pathak is a 3rd year Medicine student and current College of Health and Medicine (CHM) Officer. She hopes to return to the position next year and aims to draw on her previous leadership and advocacy experience, as well as the skills she’s learned as current CHM Officer, to advocate for better coursework delivery for remote students and for CHM student wellbeing.
As an active volunteer, having worked on a number of initiatives for CHM, such as developing a CHM SASH protocol, and having held a number of advocacy roles across Canberra and Melbourne she says that her experience and interpersonal skills make her a strong candidate for the position.
Shukla Promite is a current Ph.D. candidate at the Research School of Biology and is running for the position of College of Science (CoS) Officer. Shukla aims to make the process of finding a supervisor, writing a research proposal and managing admissions and scholarships easier and more accessible for prospective HDR students. She also aims to support postgraduate students’ professional development by running a series of networking events.
Having been a school captain and student representative at the University of Leeds, she says she has the skills and experience fit for the role.
You can view the full candidate profiles here. Voting opens on the 1st of November at 10am and closes on the 5th of November at 5pm.
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