As you’ll recall, this past June we launched ‘SpeakUp’ at the University of Queensland campus in partnership with the UQ Student Union.

Over this time 11 issues have been raised and over 35 solutions have been added.

Please enjoy a short video of the launch:

Since the launch, we’ve consulted with students and their representatives, made improvements to the app and have now prioritised the changes we will make going into 2020.

For example, we:

• made it easier for students to make suggestions

• improved the design of the homepage

• improved the underlying infrastructure of the app so that it updates in real-time (without the need to refresh the screen)

For semester 1, 2020, we’re going to have in place:

• a page for ‘Your representatives’, so that student leaders can have a profile which shows where they stand on the issues

• progress updates, so students can see how the issue is progressing after they vote

• discussion forum, so that students can discuss the issues and solutions in a safe ‘troll-free’ environment.

To be honest, traction has been slower than we would have liked, but in another sense, we are glad that not-too-many students have seen the app yet as key upgrades have been taking place over the past four months that will make the student experience even better next semester.

In the past month, we connected with the student leaders that will take positions throughout the university on various faculty boards in 2020. We’ll be following up in the new year with training sessions for these leaders and we also look forward to working with the new UQ Union student representatives that will take their positions in 2020.

For now, we’re focusing on preparing for O’Week so we can start 2020 with a bang!

We want to give a huge thanks to:

• UQ Union for their leadership, feedback and collaboration, particularly Kaiyin Wu, the Vice-President of Student Rights, and Glenda Jacobs, the Advocacy and Strategy Director,

• our Ambassadors across campus for their support and efforts to promote SpeakUp, and

• to the students of the Griffith Film School, Michael, Lachlan, Altena, Joanna, Kate, Sam and Olivia (and their supervisor, Angus!), that made the incredible launch video.

Without all of you, our continued progress to make democracy more democratic would not have been possible.

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