The welfare team is headed by the Welfare and Campaigns Officers: Emmet Ferguson (castle.welfareofficer@durham.ac.uk) and Elinam Dumor (castle.campaignsofficer@durham.ac.uk) respectively.
If you have any welfare concerns, please contact College Office in the first instance. The email address for the student support team is: univcoll.studentsupport@durham.ac.uk.
The student welfare team is made up of current Castle students. All of them are here to be a listening ear and to help signpost issues on to useful services both within and without of the University. There are a wide range of personalities on the team, so ask whoever you feel most comfortable with if you can talk something through with them, they will be more than happy to help.
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Bella Rossington – Assistant Campaigns Officer
Course: Music
What I do: My role on the welfare team is to assist the campaigns officer when planning and running welfare campaigns within Castle. I will be working with the team in general and will be a part of the team running the weekly welfare teatimes in Castle!
Ask me about: Music (Castle music rep), Dance, Kepier
Favourite Castle memory: Performing with The Fellows and Castle Big Band on Castle day and the Castle-Hatfield day formal!
Email: isabella.rossington@durham.ac.uk
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Freya Cotterill – Assistant Campaigns Officer
Course: Ancient history and Archaeology
What I do: My role is to assist the campaigns officer in organising and running welfare campaigns throughout the year, raising awareness on a variety of welfare topics. As well as this I will be involved in welfare teatimes and working alongside the welfare team as a whole.
Email: freya.cotterill@durham.ac.uk
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Scott Hickman – Assistant Campaigns Officer
Course: Law
What I do: My role is to assist the Campaigns Officer in delivering effective campaigns and events to promote inclusivity and raise awareness on Welfare topics throughout the year. I will also participate in running Welfare Tea Times, offering you support and referring you to the Welfare resources available.
Ask me about: Law, Welfare, International Student, Moatside, Castle Badminton / UCBC
Favourite Castle memories: College family Hill bar crawl, and my first June Ball of course!
Email: scott.hickman@durham.ac.uk
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Katie Telling – Assistant Welfare Officer
Course: Law (LLB)
What I do: My role as assistant welfare requires me to help the welfare officer with the functioning and smooth running of the welfare team. I will also participate in the running of drop in sessions during freshers week and tea times in the year to come. These enable anybody in the college community to seek support from welfare as a peer-support service in freshers week and all year round.
Ask me about: Welfare, Outreach, Law, Surviving Moatside
Favourite Castle memory: Either the first Christmas formal I went too or June Ball 2022. Although it was an incredibly long night, the ABBA tribute act and early morning Greggs was so worth it!
Contact me: katie.telling@durham.ac.uk
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Zoe Bradbury – Assistant Welfare Officer
Course: Psychology
What I do: My role is to offer support to the Welfare officer. I will also help in running drop in sessions and tea times for people throughout the year! This is to ensure everyone in college feels supported, and that they have someone to go to throughout the year.
Ask me about: Psychology, Welfare, CCO
Favourite Castle memories: Getting to live inside of a castle and see all of your friends at meal times, even my all-nighters on minstrels in the spooky castle is a core memory.
Email: zoe.bradbury@durham.ac.uk
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Aruba Salim – Ethnic Minorities Officer
Course: Classics
What I do: I am the representative for the ethnic minority students of Castle! I am here to help with any problems or concerns of those from a minority background while adjusting to University life as I know it can be a daunting time. I aim to create a happy and supportive community for everyone to participate in and give a feeling of home to Durham.
Ask me about: Classics, Kepier, Boxing
Favourite Castle memories: The Christmas formal, it was such good vibes and we all got Christmas crackers 🙂 And Owengate tea and toast, it was hands down one of the best parts about freshers week.
Email: aruba.m.salim@durham.ac.uk
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Vernice Ng – International Welfare Officer
Course: Politics
What I do: My role involves providing assistance and support to the well-being of international students as well as essential information to help ease international students’ settling-down process, while also collaborating with the International President in organising events such as themed formals that celebrate the diversity and various nationalities represented within the college.
Ask me about: Equestrian, Asian Society activities, Durham Nightlife, living in Kepier
Favourite Castle memories: Every single Castle ball and Undie nights with my mates
Email: shing.w.ng@durham.ac.uk
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Charlotte Low – Northern Officer
Course: English Literature
What I do: I represent northern students of Castle! I address any issues or concerns northern students might face in college and the wider university, and I also will run campaigns to educate what it means to be a northern student at Castle!
Ask me about: UCNC, First-Generation Soc, English Lit
Favourite Castle memories: Bierfest ’22, Ladies Night ’22
Email: charlotte.low@durham.ac.uk
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Daisie Ellis – LGBT+ Officer
Course: Chemistry (MChem, Industrial)
What I do: I represent the LGBT+ students of college! I am a friendly face for all students to chat to no matter their sexual orientation or gender identity, and I am knowledgeable about support systems in place at college, the wider university, and beyond.
Ask me about: Chemistry, Kepier, Disability Support, Quizzing, 93% Club, Associations, UCOFC
Favourite Castle memory: Going on a Welfare social and ending up in the back-end of Framwellgate Moor in someone’s Mariokart tournament
Email: daisie-anne.ellis@durham.ac.uk
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Madi James – Disabilities Officer
Course: Mathematics
What I do: I am here to help you access all the support Durham has to offer such as DSNs or DSA application assistance. As well as this, I’m here to lend a listening ear to any issues that may arise or questions you may have and guide you to the most appropriate help available. Overall, my job is to ensure Castle is increasingly an accessible, welcoming and inclusive community alongside the entire team!
Ask me about: Maths, Transport, Dietary Requirements, missing your pets
Favourite Castle memories: The balls are always nights to remember as I’ve been able to hold snakes and tarantulas as well as go on my first ever Ferris Wheel! Other than that, hearing the choir through the Castle walls as I go down to dinner will always be a surreal memory.
Email: madison.l.james@durham.ac.uk
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Emily Gray – Livers Out Representative
Course: Modern Languages and Cultures (Spanish and Russian)
What I do: I represent the livers out at Castle. This means people who do not live in college. I will also be here to help you when it comes to signing for houses (a particularly tricky thing when it comes to Durham!) and can offer advice about bills, housing contracts and any problems you may encounter when it comes to housing.
Ask me about: Year Abroads, Housing, Languages
Favourite Castle memories: The Observatory Hill parties, especially in first year! Staying up until sunrise with my college family and stumbling home at 5am, despite it being freezing!
Email: emily.h.gray@durham.ac.uk
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Contact Welfare
You can contact any member of the welfare team individually, or attend a drop in, and we will be more than happy to help. Here are some other ways to get in touch:
Anonymous messaging system: ucwelfare.castlejcr.com
You can use this form to communicate anonymously with the Welfare leads. You could ask a question which you would prefer not to talk about directly, request Welfare supplies for you to anonymously collect, report an incident or use it to just send your thoughts. When you submit the form, your message will be assigned a random ‘Ticket ID’. This is the only thing which connects you to the message so it cannot be ‘de-anonymised’ or linked back to you. It is entirely confidential. Remember to keep your Ticket ID as it is the only way to access your response later. If you would like us to know who you are, feel free to include your name in the message. Come back in a few days and click ‘View Response’, then enter your Ticket ID. You can enter some additional information or reply as many times as you like using the same Ticket ID.