The Cornish Seal Sanctuary is one of my favourite places to visit in Cornwall. The adorable seals, the incredible rescue work that they do, the educating talks, the seal pups and, most importantly, the chance to pet some goats (!), make it an incredible day out. Unfortunately, due to it being harder to get to on public transport, students without cars can often miss out on the experience. And this is why I wanted to organise a trip for PGRs (postgraduate researchers).

As PGRs, we spend a lot of time at our desks worrying over everything, and I really believe it is important to come together as a community and do something else, anything that isn’t focused on work or deadlines. A day staring at seals while donating to a good cause seemed the perfect activity.

Luckily, we already had some funding to pay for the entry tickets, but there wasn’t enough left over to support students with transport to/from the sanctuary. This was a critical part of the whole event because if we couldn’t provide transport then we would be excluding a large proportion of the PGR population and only those with cars would be able to go. The SU Student Project Fund seemed like the perfect solution to the problem. So we filled out the application form which was really quick and easy, and within a few weeks we heard that we’d been successful. This meant we could hire a local coach company, and so students were able to benefit from free transport and enjoy a lovely day out without having to worry about the cost and challenges of public transport in rural Cornwall. Altogether, just over 20 PGRs from all different departments and faculties attended the trip, which provided a rare opportunity to meet new colleagues, enjoy some time away from campus, do some sightseeing and learn about local wildlife conservation.