East Midlands Student Candidates

Isobel Abbott

I believe I would make a good student representative for the East Midlands area as I am a third-year paramedic science student at the university of Lincoln, and therefore have been a student in this area for a longer period of time, which allows me to understand some of the common issues that may arise for students working in this area.

I was the community outreach officer for my university’s paramedic and technician society last year, which has given me an insight into working within an organisation similar to the student council, furthermore my role focused on extending and enriching the members experience, which I hope to continue if voted onto the student council. This experience has given me the organisation skills to be able to carry out this role effectively.

If voted in, I would like to use my role to not only represent the student members in the East Midlands, but I would also like to promote collaboration between these universities, and paramedic societies with a view to creating larger events and opportunities for all East Midlands students to attend and work together. For example, this could include major incident scenario days, mental health support, career progression sessions or CPD events involving multiple universities cohorts. I have seen the benefit of these collaborative events, as I attended the student paramedic conference held by the College of paramedics prior to starting my degree. I found this gave me insight to areas of the profession that are not always discussed, such as using dark humour as a coping strategy, which may not be included in university curriculums but are important to learn about whilst in training. Mental health support for students undertaking paramedic training is an aspect of university that I feel is of paramount importance and I would like to look into how each university or society help their students through the unique challenges that come with paramedic training. I want to focus on understanding what the students in my area want, and to create opportunities based on this feedback. 

Alexander Stockwell 

I am an enthusiastic individual who can motivate myself and my team members through my positive and ‘can-do’ attitude. Being exposed to many different situations and people, I have learned how to quickly adapt to my new surroundings and develop my communication and problem-solving abilities; these traits allow me to lead myself and others successfully. I am always punctual and conscientious towards my peers and work colleagues ensuring that the work I do is to both the best of my ability and the fastest delivery.

My continuing dedication to developing my strong interpersonal skills has led me to volunteer overseas with the VSO to improve local education, supply fresh water and aid impoverished areas in India. During this time, I analysed current frameworks, systems, and protocols to see how they could be changed and adapted to better the local community. Successfully viewing current frameworks and seeing how they could be changed will be vital when fulfilling the representative student role.

During my second year of university, I was fortunate enough to be accepted onto the Council of Deans of Health’s Student Leadership Programme. The programme utilised a mixture of residential days, seminars, leadership lectures, and other components such as diversity and educational styles. As well as receiving one-to-one coaching to develop these skills further. This experience has equipped me with transferable skills which would be advantageous when representing the student paramedics of the East Midlands and being the voice at the forefront of paramedicine. Furthermore, whilst on the programme, along with support from my principal lecturer, I developed a Peer Educator programme which is currently being established at my university.

Through personal experience and lack of peer support being the first cohort, I recognised there were elements of the degree which could be supplemented to aid in both student learning and the transition from student to clinician. Using my peers’ voices, I was able to identify further what they thought would have benefitted them and then correlated these ideas to formulate a platform which addressed these issues. To date, the programme has enrolled over a third of students on the course and produced a group willing to support others to develop their learning and become more competent, confident clinicians.

From the experience highlighted above, I believe I will be a successful and credible individual who can effectively represent the voice of student paramedics.