Celebrating Volunteers’ Week 2024

Volunteers’ Week is an annual celebration taking place this year between Monday 3 June – Sunday 9 June, acknowledging the contribution millions of people make across the UK through volunteering in their communities.

Each year, our incredible alumni volunteers have a huge impact on everything we do here at Cardiff University, whether that’s supporting students through mentoring schemes, guiding University strategy, returning to Cardiff to give a careers talk to inspire the next generation of graduates, or offering internships for our students to get industry experience whilst completing their studies.

We want to take this time to say a special thank you to all of our alumni volunteers who are instrumental in making a difference here at Cardiff University.

In 2023 our alumni volunteers gave 7,775 hours!

Find out more about getting involved in volunteering.

Our alumni volunteers share their experiences and tell us how they’ve found volunteering to be so rewarding.

Tyrone Stewart (MSc 2022)

Alumni Speaker Tyrone gave a talk to our current students about his experiences and career so far. Find out more.

“I came back to talk to current students about mentoring, and how it worked for me. I wanted to share with them that they need to be proactive in pursuing their goals. I got so much from the mentoring programme and from Cardiff University, I wanted to give back and help future students any way I can.”

Sophia Crothall (Cultural and Creative Industries 2023-)

Alumni Careers Panel Attendee Sophia attended a careers talk given by a panel of alumni.

“I would highly encourage other alumni thinking of giving a careers talk to do it. For current Cardiff University students like me, it can offer reassurance that the roles we’re interested in are achievable, and highlights how the skills that we’re gaining during our degrees can be transferred into work.

It’s also a fantastic opportunity for us to ask questions and form our own views around our potential careers. Plus, I imagine it must be so rewarding for alumni to come back to the place where their own journey began!”

Gabriel Yomi Dabiri (LLB 2008)

Gabriel is Co-Chair of our New York Alumni Chapter, helping to organise the group’s events and activities. Find out about our International Chapters.

“We had several attendees at the New York Chapter launch who travelled long distances to join us. It was a fun evening, and I had a sense that people were really enjoying themselves and in no hurry to leave! I’m optimistic that it won’t take long for this to become a thriving community. It’s such an interesting, impressive, fun group and I’m looking forward to seeing what we build here.

There is no reason why the benefits of attending Cardiff University should end on graduation day when we have such culturally rich, diverse, giving alumni located all over the world, including right here in the Big Apple.”

Jane Cook (BA 2008)

Jane was a mentor on our Womentoring scheme in 2023, supporting three mentees.

“It was very flattering to be asked, and the more I thought about it, the more I realised that while at university I didn’t ever think I would end up working for myself. I would have liked to have heard from a range of people who took different paths.

It actually made me think about whether I wanted to get a mentor for myself! I could see the benefit on both sides, and I’d be interested in doing it again in the future.”

We couldn’t do what we do without our brilliant volunteers, so if you’d like to give back, please do get involved. Why not start today by signing up to our alumni networking platform Cardiff Connected.