From: Dan Todman
To: All History students

 

Hello fellow historian,

I hope you are all well. I know how disruptive the strikes, coming after the long damage of the pandemic, have been for everyone. It’s rubbish and while the disputes involved are beyond the control of a Head of School, I sincerely wish things were better.

We have tried to mitigate the impact of industrial action as far as we can within the School, but I know this has not always been possible. We are likely to face further disruption in the coming weeks, and I promise we will continue to find ways to support and guide you during this period.

In this email, I want to let you know specifically about what we are planning for next week, when members of UCU at QMUL will be involved in another period of national level strike action. After that, I will explain about the risk of further local industrial action in the weeks after that.

Teachers should already have let you know whether they are striking next week or not. If they haven’t, it is fine to ask them.  If you have an assessment deadline in week 11 or 12, and you are likely to want advice from a teacher, you may wish to try to speak to them before the end of this week if you know they are going on strike.

To try to help those whose teachers are on strike or who have been disrupted in previous rounds, next week I will be running a range of additional assessment support sessions – including drop-in in person sessions and bookable one-to-one slots for assessment advice. These are not module specific, but if you have a question or a problem, bring it along and let me help you solve it. The sessions, times and locations are below.

 

Date	Time	Activity	Location
Monday 28 March
	10-11	Bookable Online 1-to-1s	MS Teams
	11-12	Finalists – Online Dissertation Workshop	MS Teams
Tuesday 29th March
	10-11	Drop in assessment clinic	Scape 1.04 (36)
	11-12:30	Bookable In person 1-to-1s	Arts2 3.10
	1-3	Bookable In person 1-to-1s	Arts2 3.10
	3-4	Drop in assessment clinic	Scape 1.05 (18)
Wednesday 30th March
	10-11	Bookable In person 1-to-1s	Arts2 3.10
	1-2	Bookable In person 1-to-1s	Arts2 3.10
Thursday 31st March
	10-11	Drop in assessment clinic	Bancroft 1.02.3 (14)
	11-12:30	Bookable In person 1-to-1s	Arts2 3.10
	2-3	Bookable In person 1-to-1s	Arts2 3.10
	3-4	Finalists – Dissertation Workshop (in person)	Bancroft 1.13 (110)
Friday 1st April
	1-2:30	Bookable Online 1-to-1s	MS Teams

 

The link to book a 1-to-1 meeting is here (same link for both in-person and online meetings): https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/Online1to1Meeting@qmulprod.onmicrosoft.com/bookings/

This is the first time I’ve done this – so let’s see what happens. If there’s a lot of demand, we’ll put more on. And if you have ideas of other things that would help you – particularly when it comes to trying to stick to a study routine – do let me know.

Last night, it was announced that following a ballot of UCU members at QMUL, there may be another two weeks of strikes at this university in Weeks 11 and 12. I know this will be very worrying for you to read, and I also know that everyone will be hoping that a resolution to the local dispute can be found before we get to that point. It will be absolutely fine to ask your seminar teachers whether they expect to be taking part in this strike if it goes ahead. I am meeting this week with other colleagues in the School to work out how we can try to best support you, and make sure you are treated equitably, in the event of these additional two weeks action. This is an unexpected development, so I am afraid that I need to ask for your patience while we come up with a plan – but I wanted to email today to let you know that we are working on it.

In the meantime, my main message is: keep looking after yourself and each other. And if you need help, with anything that impacts your life at university, then do talk to your adviser; your seminar tutors; or through our central School support team at history-student-support@qmul.ac.uk.

If you have more questions you’d like answered, then please do let me know by email or through your course reps.

With all best wishes,

Dan