Simon Barlow, Residential Marketing and Communications Manager
Meet Simon Barlow, Residential Marketing and Communications Manager. In this profile Simon tells us about his 25 years at Queen Mary, his reflections on the AskQM project, and the role he plays in providing our new students with a home away from home and supporting them to feel connected with a community.
Congratulations on your 25 years at Queen Mary! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your time working at the University?
I originally arrived as a student in 1997 studying Geography and graduating in 2000. I’d also worked in the summers for the University as a Conference Assistant. I spent a little time away from Queen Mary organising work experience places in Tower Hamlets, before applying to a Conference Office administrator role, becoming a full-time member of staff in November 2000. Having worked in this role for almost four years I applied for a newly created post to support the growth in accommodation onsite when the Student Village opened, and the halls provision transferred to Mile End from South Woodford!
In 2007, I joined the University Council in the category of non-academic staff prior to reorganisation. I then moved into a marketing assistant role supporting the promotion of the venues through digital, print and trade shows, while I studied for my Chartered Institute of Marketing qualifications. I then became Marketing Executive in 2010 and ultimately Marketing Manager (Commercial Venues) in 2018 before Covid intervened. My role then became more focused on supporting isolating and arriving residents and a new post of Residential Marketing and Communications Manager in 2020. During this time I also had two periods of interim Head of Service roles, for Events and Commercial Sales, so I’ve worked across most of the Professional Services grades in my time here.
In all my roles, I would never have achieved anything without building relationships and having conversations with those across the University and I like to think I do the same. Working here for 25 years now, I often know the ‘history’ of something / what’s been done before and why - as well as remembering a Mile End campus with no Student Village, ArtsTwo, Graduate Centre and a Chemistry tower where the temporary building is and travelling to South Woodford to visit the halls there!
Describe your average day/week
My role revolves around a few key areas - data being one - so updating our contact lists / inviting residents to complete an online induction / putting them into the parcel locker system and removing residents who have left is usually my first task, provided nothing urgent has come in overnight. A lot of my role involves regular meetings with the teams I work closely with in Housing and Residential Services to ensure I’m aware of where they may need digital or graphical support for initiatives or events taking place. I also look after the Residential Life website for those living in halls covering practical aspects such as how to report maintenance issues or do your laundry, through to signposting to support services and promoting events delivered to build a sense of community and belonging. I also meet weekly with our website provider, and they help with ensuring we are a good creative sounding board – we can address issues in halls or topics with timely articles which respond to feedback or a sudden increase in demand for information on a particular topic. The final part of my role revolves around analysing formal feedback through a survey, as well as responding to informal feedback through our dedicated email.
In summary, my week involves a lot of screen time, but also a lot of meetings with colleagues across the University – regularly communications and social media groups, the School of Business and Management project comms group as we are neighbours, my own team and a lot of contract and supplier management contact to ensure we get the best outcome for Queen Mary’s investment in these systems and they deliver for our residents.
Are there any key projects you are currently working on that you’d like to highlight?
I think AskQM has been an interesting project, it’s a new way of working and it brings together a lot of the University - during the project work it was interesting to learn how different departments need to communicate and how that differs according to the service or area and how each of us could use AskQM to manage this.
In my own area, we are currently working exclusively with our communications platform supplier to develop their app for students – it is something they want to roll out to other clients but it feels good they asked us to partner with them and that our students in halls have the opportunity to shape the app so it becomes useful for them and our future residents as a way of connecting quickly with all things halls.
What do you see as your role in helping the University achieve its Strategy 2030?
Halls are fundamental and a unique aspect of the Queen Mary experience, being a campus-based university, as well as a standout in London for our offer. My role plays a part in bringing our halls to life for students in print and online, and in ensuring that once they arrive, we provide them with a home away from home and support them to feel connected with a community. That drives the retention of students and sometimes needs support from Residential Welfare and more widely but means our residents can complete their studies and achieve at Queen Mary.
My role is therefore about delivering a positive and supportive student experience that meets the ambition Queen Mary has to be the most inclusive university of its kind, anywhere.
What’s your favourite place on any of our campuses?
I am going to be greedy and say I really love the Octagon, despite it being a place where I did exams many years ago, I also have a soft spot for the ArtsTwo building, it just feels different to most of our buildings, with space to relax around the various facilities. The lawn and relaxed nature of Charterhouse Square as a calm oasis away from the City of London is up there too, along with the library at Whitechapel.
Do you have any hobbies, pastimes outside of work?
I’m a seasoned volunteer, so often doing something of an evening or weekend – the majority of my Saturday’s I’m somewhere in east London in my capacity of Club Secretary for a grassroots football team called North East Lions. I’m also a Club Representative and Discipline Assistant for the Essex Alliance League in which they play, aside from that I love going to the cinema, meeting people and just chatting with others to learn about them.