Activities and Engagement Officer – Ronnie Lynch

Hi, I’m Ronnie Lynch, 3rd year History student, and candidate for Student Officer Activities and Engagement.

“Vote Ronnie to make the Union work for you. I will: Fight for Palestine, Clubs & Societies, Women’s Safety and Revive Campus Campaigns! Vote Ronnie #1 for a stronger, united, and passionate student voice. Take power out of the boardroom and to the Students. A New Union For All!“

How do you aim to help students in the midst of financial hardship, such as in making activities more affordable and accessible?

My manifesto consists of two main points; funding for activities, and general cost-of-living support for students. I think we’re living in very trying times for students – I don’t need to tell you guys how much we’re all struggling. There needs to be far more measures to be put in place for those going through financial hardship, so that students are able to partake in activities at the SU and in clubs and societies. At the moment the university’s in an £11 million deficit, and the SU gets only £24,000 funding for all officers, so it is trying to extract money from the university that is quite difficult at the moment. We need to mobilise students to create leverage to fight the university to fight for more funding. I’m also looking at external funding such as sponsorships for clubs and societies, as well as fundraising opportunities.

What do you think isn’t been done enough by the SU in the past in terms of activities and engagement, and what are your additional plans for improvement?

Activities and Engagement is a new role, following on from Campaigns and Engagement, which is quite a vague role. The new role is to be based obviously around activities, clubs and societies, formals and things like that; that’s previously been dismissed by officers. I think it’s a great change to rename it to Activities and Engagement and to shift focus to making students build a strong cohort, so that students are interacting with the SU and the university in all aspects. I’m looking at things like formals, balls, galas, competitions, varsities for clubs and societies, 2025-26 Battle of the Bands; all ways to inform students of how they can get involved with the SU and clubs and societies in general.

What experience – in SU and general student involvement – can you bring to this role?

From the second I stepped into Queen’s I immediately ran as a Course Rep for my course of History, carrying it on throughout every year I’ve been here. I’ve been on Student Council as both an all-student Representative as well as a HAPP Representative. I’ve been working tirelessly to help students, bringing issues to the forefront; things like with the escalation of genocide in Palestine, where I was part of the divestment campaign that looked at getting QUB from divesting investments from military firms around the globe that were contributing to the genocide; I helped get that through, and now being SU policy, Queen’s have agreed to divest.

Apart from that I’ve been involved with Victim Support NI for over a year, where I was helping victims of violent crimes throughout their crime court proceedings, many of those gender-based violence. Representation has been the ethos in the things that I’ve done, putting in the work when there’s even zero money to be gained, and I’m hoping to take that a step higher by working as a Student Officer, bringing representation to the forefront.

What’s your go-to snack?

I recently got into Corn Nuts; at the SU actually they got M&M-style chocolate ones (but better); that’s my go-to at the moment.

In 5 words or less, what is your campaign about?

Activism, Coalitions, Campaigns, Fun.

You can read Ronnie’s manifesto here.

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