Clubs & Societies
Our motto is ‘Unity in Diversity’ providing internationalism and the London experience.
Belonging to a club or society, setting up an enterprise initiative, taking up a volunteer placement, or participating in a cultural trip builds well-rounded, mature and responsible individuals who go on to make a positive difference in the world.
University is about much more than in-classroom studying.
Explore Student Life at Richmond
Supporting on campus student organisations
A wide range of student-run on-campus clubs and societies offer students unique opportunities to develop their skills and experience in preparation for life after Richmond.
The Art Exhibition Society, for example, encourages students to explore the wonderful art galleries within London as well as meet with alumni working in the field, and the Green Project looks to impact the local community through hands-on volunteer work while student leaders from the International Affairs Society seek to develop greater international links.
We will empower students to get inspired, involved, and learn skills that will stay with them for life.
Scroll a little further down to read more about our clubs & societies or use our quick links below.
Student Ambassadors
Student Ambassadors work as part of a highly professional Marketing and Admissions team to attract new students to Richmond, establish a closer bond between existing and new students and promote the University to a wider audience.
Summary of role and responsibilities:
The programme of activities for Student Ambassadors includes Open Days and Applicant Days which are planned in advance for the year. There are also opportunities to help with the marketing campaign for Richmond, through both social media and PR as well as administrative work for the Marketing and Admissions team.
The Student Ambassador role is an excellent opportunity to gain some valuable work experience and develop your personal and professional skills, such as communication and teamwork, providing increased employability. It is a paid role, at £7.38 an hour, plus gift vouchers may be given when a high number of hours are undertaken.
A student & staff led business incubator
Our Clubs & Societies
The Richmond Fashion Society
Tomorrow’s fashion designers and models have a place to call home at Richmond. For the last few years, Richmond Fashion Society has been a creative outlet for the university’s artists, models, photographers, and designers to share their latest creations and dip their toes into London’s diverse fashion community.
What started as a small group posting photos on Instagram has grown into a network of artists working collaboratively on multimedia fashion projects. What was once a small group has become as bustling club in the heart of London’s fashion world.
Last year, Thimo and the Fashion Society put on a charity fashion show on Kensington campus. Inspired by the symmetrical architecture on campus, Thimo envisioned a catwalk full of models strutting through the school halls. After working for London Fashion Week, he knew this kind of project was not for the fainted hearted. But with the help of about 15 dedicated team members, including Vice President Gabrielle Hollenbeck, the Society hosted a widely successful show. Over 25 models walked the catwalk, wearing pieces from up-and-coming designers at the university.
The show gave a platform for designers to sell their work and raised over £300 from ticket sales for charities such as PETA, UNICEF, and ICOARM–a local aid charity for refugees
Following the buzz created by the show, the Fashion Society’s next big project was a magazine to complement their instagram account RUONCampus.
Grantz and Hollenbeck gathered their small army of artists and dispersed them to handle each little detail the magazine. The Spring issue was filled with writing from Richmond students and faculty, as well as local and international professionals in the industry. RUONCampus was made available online (link), along with hard copies for students to take home.
Grantz and his team just barely caught their breath before starting plans for the second issue, which will be released at the start of 2019.
Once the second issue is out, and the club’s leaders approach their graduation, the future of the Fashion Society will be left in the hands of upcoming members and anyone eager dive into Richmond’s foothold in the fashion world.
Richmond’s Great British Baking Society
Richmond’s Great British Baking Society has – as its name suggests – a very British influence. It’s inspired by television’s most watched cookery show: The Great British Bake Off. In the show, amateur bakers compete in a series of events to determine who will become the UK’s Best Amateur Baker.
Although members of the Richmond Society are not currently organising or involved in any baking competitions, they are engaged in several events throughout the community including bake sales, partnering with the university’s ‘Green Project’, and of course, gathering together to watch the Great British Bake Off.
Founded in 2016 by student Leah Wood, the club combines fine baking, fine television, and sense of community and is also involved with the wider university. The club provides treats for student events, including Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and the annual Spring Festival. As well as cakes, tasty pastries, savory quiche, and mini meat pies, are commonly prepared treats for their own and other club’s events.
Perhaps most notable is the Great British Baking Society’s involvement with The Green Project. Richmond’s environmental club works to reduce waste and remove
litter in the London area. Every month, members of The Green Project, partner with the Wandle Trust and travel to southeast Wimbledon to remove rubbish from a nearby river. The Baking Society provides sandwiches, tea, coffee, and pastries for those who take part and often accompanies the environmental club on their southeast London expeditions.
During the fall semester, when the Great British Bake Off is televised, the group gathers together weekly to watch the show. Occasionally, students go on to replicate recipes from the show, and the club is currently organising guest speakers from the show, to come and speak at an special event.
Within the baking society, several members are interested in pursuing culinary arts beyond the club, but no baking or cooking experience is necessary to join. “You don’t have to be a good baker, you can just come and see what happens,” says club president Leah Wood.
Wood describes how she has learned about baking through trial and error, and one of her favorite memories cooking with the group was a miserable attempt to create Guinness cupcakes for a St. Patrick’s Day event. “It failed spectacularly!” she laughs.
In addition, the club has been a great way for students to unwind and engage with their peers after a long day of classes. Wood encourages all Richmond students to bake, as it has proven to be such a simple and enjoyable activity for her. “It doesn’t matter if it turns out lopsided or burnt, it’s something entirely cool and unique that you made yourself,” she says.
If you are interested in finding out more about the Great British Baking Society at Richmond, contact Leah Wood. She looks forward to hearing from you!
International Affairs Society
The purpose of the International Affairs Society is to provide a platform for students to discuss current affairs while making connections to their respective majors. The society will provide events and gatherings in an effort to provide this platform.
We believe that students are strong and powerful force that can influence political and international processes within any public domain, by acknowledging variety of international understanding amongst the student body, International affairs society aspires to educate and remind every member that International politics impacts nearly every aspect of your lives .
Events and activities:
- Organise events that will give the members the opportunity to participate in discussion and debates of these issues
- Organise regular academic talks to the members about current international issues
- Provide a monthly online journal similar to that produced by research institutes to members about current international affairs
- Get people interested in international political and economic issues
- Promote activities like voluntarism in different aspects due to the society can develop their skills in realize the situation of our actual society
The Richmond Keyboard Warriors
Do you have an interest in anything ‘nerdy’, or perhaps in a specific nerd culture? Perhaps you enjoy gaming, cosplay, anime, or even board games in your spare time? Whatever your passion, the “Richmond Keyboard Warriors” is the place to be.
The club originally started as a student social club for computer gamers before going through multiple iterations. As current club president Connor Lechleiter explains: “We were once an anime club, then a board games club, then we went back to computer gaming.” Eventually, when Connor took up the role of president, the name ‘Richmond Keyboard Warriors’ evolved and has now stuck.
Connor affirms that the club’s mission, to specialise and focus on nerd culture and to network with fellow Richmond students, has not changed. The Richmond Keyboard Warriors does not exclude any nerd culture and describes itself as a student group for keen anime, cosplay, and board game fans alike.
The club has played host to a number of events – large and small – on campus with their card playing night bringing together as many as 40 students. The club is also currently working on the possibility of introducing eSports as a club activity, forming a team if there is enough interest, to enter local competitive eSports matches. There are also potential plans to set up joint events with fellow gaming/anime/nerd culture student organisations in neighboring universities, for example Imperial College, with a regular round of events hosted on and off-campus.
Connor also hopes the Keyboard Warriors can attend at least one Comic Con, or local fan convention in the future. And the club is also exploring volunteering for shared-theme charities, such as “Gaming for Good”, a charity which donates video/board games to children.
If you are already at Richmond and are interested in finding out more about the Richmond Keyboard Warriors, send an email to club president Connor.
Richmond’s LGBT club – United in Diversity
An annual visit to a West End cinema performance of the Rocky Horror Show is just one of the activities offered by Richmond’s LGBT club, United in Diversity. To add a bit more fun to the occasion, the club’s members traditionally dress up – the more flamboyantly the better – in one of the characters from the musical.
When members are not on the annual trip they meet every two weeks to plan other events, from clubbing to movie nights to raising money for charity.
The club began in 2013, and is presently run by President Neyda Vega, a Junior studying for a BA in History. “Some members want to party all the time and some take more of an interest in the problems in the community. We cater for everyone, creating a safe space that anyone can feel comfortable in,” says Neyda.
“It becomes a friendship group really; so we also like to share stories about what we’ve been up to recently, who’s been on dates… just talking for a while,” she adds.
Fundraisers are an important part of the club. At least one will be held on each campus every semester. This semester they sold Aids ribbons raising money for the National AIDS Trust.
Neyda plans to further expand Richmond’s LGBT community by pursuing a partnership with nearby Imperial College and King’s College, and to work with their LGBT clubs to create a larger community with more opportunities to network and socialize. Neyda would also like to visit and work with a youth center in London, providing support and guidance to the children there.
One club member is a youth ambassador for the campaigning group Stonewall, and next year the group would like to organize a conference around diversity in education.
If you want to find out more about United in Diversity, email Neyda Vega.
Women in Leadership
This club is about creating a community where ideas and skills are exchanged in the hope of empowering women further and encouraging female leadership.
The club does this by holding frequent talks and networking events on subjects such as how to make the transition from higher education to the workplace, or understanding that today a career ladder is likely to involve a career change at some point or analysing women’s inability to network in the way that men often do.
And the discussion often goes further to address some of today’s more pressing societal issues, such as gender, race and diversity.
