Isha, Ciaran and I

The Environment, Politics, and Society (EPS) student representatives (including myself) took part in our first Geography Department Student Partnership Committee meeting. Alongside representatives from the other Geography MSc programmes, we met with the Programme Convenors to share feedback collected from our peers and to reflect together on how the MSc programmes can continue to develop. The atmosphere was constructive and positive, with convenors showing real openness to student perspectives and a clear commitment to improving the learning experience across the department.

For EPS, we discussed feedback across several modules:

Conservation
We shared that students felt the assessment leaned heavily toward conservation planning, which has not been a major focus in teaching so far. Convenors appreciated this insight and recognised the opportunity to strengthen alignment between lectures and assessments. We also noted that some guest lectures were more natural-science oriented, which can challenge students from social science backgrounds.

Methods
We raised that parts of the content can feel repetitive for students with prior social science training, and convenors were receptive to the idea of streamlining material while maintaining depth where needed.

Environmental Knowledges
We mentioned that the slides contain a lot of text, making them valuable for later reference but difficult to follow live, especially for students with dyslexia or other learning needs. The suggestion to spend more lecture time on conceptual discussion rather than recapping readings was welcomed and acknowledged as helpful feedback.

Environmental Governance
We relayed that further elaboration of certain key concepts would benefit students from diverse academic backgrounds. The convenors acknowledged the challenges of preparation this term and were appreciative of the supportive tone of the feedback.

Beyond module-specific points, we also raised broader themes across the programme:

• The need for slightly longer and clearer breaks during longer sessions.
• Interest in having more seminar opportunities to encourage discussion outside of lecture time.
• Issues with lecture recordings in non-UCL buildings, which convenors agreed to look into.
• Challenges include venues, attendance recording, and scheduling, particularly when ASF hours overlap with compulsory teaching.

We also shared additional suggestions from the cohort, such as releasing reading lists earlier, including pronouns in materials, and fostering a stronger departmental community, potentially through a group chat or social event.

Overall, the convenors were very receptive, and the meeting felt genuinely collaborative. It was encouraging to see how engaged staff are in responding to student experiences and thinking proactively about how to improve the programmes.

Going forward, we’re looking forward to continuing this dialogue throughout the year.

It will be an interesting and meaningful opportunity to support our peers, strengthen communication between students and staff, and contribute to the ongoing development of the EPS programme.