Peer Support Awards 2025

The annual Peer Support Awards took place on Wednesday, 7th May 2025, celebrating the incredible dedication and achievements of Peer Mentors, PASS Leaders, and Student Coordinators. They have all made significant contributions to Peer Support over the past year. 

Peer Support is a vital part of the student experience at The University of Manchester, helping first-year students transition to university life through guidance from student volunteers in higher years on the same course. This year, the Peer Support community included over 1,200 student volunteers, all of whom have worked tirelessly to provide a supportive and inclusive environment for students. We extend a heartfelt thank you to every volunteer for their time, commitment, and passion. 

This year’s celebration was held in person at Whitworth Hall, bringing together Peer Support volunteers and staff from across the University. It was fantastic to see so many people gathered to reflect on and honour the success stories across the Peer Support community. We’d like to thank everyone who attended and those who helped make the event possible! 

We received a record-breaking 124 nominations for both students and staff who have made exceptional efforts towards their schemes. 

A judging panel, made up of staff members, selected winners for the Outstanding Contribution Award based on four main criteria: support, development, engagement, and fostering an inclusive community. 

The Outstanding Contribution winners: 

• Ruoxianzi Wang (Sociology PASS) 
• Khushi Varshney (School of Biological Sciences PASS) 
  Genevieve Durham (Modern Language and Business & Management Peer Mentoring) 
• Colm Lynch (Adult Nursing Peer Mentoring) 
• Joon Hoong Chak (Civil Engineering PASS) 
• Buthaina Altajir and Nurul Binti (Earth and Environmental Sciences PASS) 
• Lin Ma (Pharmacy International Student Experience Programme Peer Mentoring scheme) 
• Arusha Junagade (Law Peer Mentoring) 
• Tilly Lloyd (Russian PASS) 
  Shuyi Yuan (Fashion Business and Technology) 
• Robin de Freitas (Physics PASS) 
• Celyn Bodey (Mechanical Engineering PASS) 
  Nur Nabilan Binti Kamarudin (Pharmacy International Student Experience Programme Peer Mentoring scheme) 
• Chuhuan Yu, Ruohan Luo and Grace Hollingsworth (Education Peer Mentoring) 
• Bethan Bowden Williams (Chemistry PASS) 
  Muhammad Aqueel Abdulla and Lourenco Gomes (Aerospace Engineering PASS) 
  Merve Turan (Computer Science PASS Year 1) 

 
Additionally, we presented Outstanding Scheme Awards, celebrating excellence in specific areas. We received a fantastic 38 nominations across five categories, and the standard of the nominations was exceptionally high this year, making the decisions very difficult for the awards panel. We are delighted to announce the winners of the Outstanding Scheme Awards as follows: 

Resilience: Optometry PASS (Runner-up: BA Social Sciences PASS) 

Innovator: Computer Science Year 3 PASS (Runner-up: Aerospace PASS) 

Collaboration: Psychology Peer Mentoring 

Legacy: Russian PASS (Runner-up: Mechanical Engineering PASS) 

Community: Computer Science Year 2 PASS (Runner-up: Chemical Engineering PASS) 

Congratulations once again to all those recognised and thank you to every student who makes Peer Support such a meaningful and impactful initiative.