Decolonise Assistant
Who are we?
We are Manchester Students’ Union, the biggest SU in the country, supporting over 48,000 students throughout their time at university. We help to make student life the best it can be by supporting students to campaign for change, creating opportunities to meet new people, providing employment opportunities, providing advice and support and being a safe place on campus.
We are a values-centred organisation that employs around 90 permanent, full-time members of staff. We recruit a wide range of roles throughout the year within all our departments from our Commercial team operating Manchester Academy Venues, 13 Media, Bar 532 & Kitchen and Corridor Coffee to our Student Activities, Student Engagement, Marketing and Communications, Finance, HR and Facilities teams. Our team of around 400 part-time, studying staff are instrumental in providing to support to all departments as well as leading major projects like Student Angels. When you join UMSU, you’ll be immersed in an environment that empowers staff to make great things happen and we're always on the lookout for innovative, passionate, and proactive people to join us.
Our values are really important to us and shape the work that we do every day. As part of our recruitment process, we want you to demonstrate how your experiences, behaviours and skills align with our values. You can find more detailed explanations of our values on our website.
About the role
Passionate about enhancing the University of Manchester’s approach to Decolonising the Curriculum? Interested in making impactful change at the University of Manchester, whilst enhancing your own skills in project delivery and campaigns? This could be the role for you!
University of Manchester Students' Union are recruiting for a Decolonise Assistant. You will work approximately 10 hours a week, based in the Students’ Union building with an option to work some hours remotely.
As a Decolonise Assistant, you will be responsible for helping Manchester Students’ Union and the Executive Officer Team aims towards Decolonising the Curriculum. This project is to be utilised by the Officer Team, the SU, and professional staff at the University of Manchester. You’ll be responsible for bringing together student and staff initiatives and ensuring students are aware of initiatives and how to get involved.
You will sit in the University of Manchester Students’ Union Campaigns & Democracy Team. You will work with the Executive Officer Team closely, to evaluate and establish how to move forwards our actions towards Decolonising the Curriculum. We recently launched a toolkit for staff across the University, and want to ensure best practice is continued, and shared collectively across the institution. You'll drive this forwards, by exploring new and creative ways to expand our work and ensure students are at the forefront of the movement. You’ll work closely with School Reps, Student Leaders and Academic Colleagues.
Decolonise is often used to describe what can be differing approaches to challenging white supremacy in Higher Education. From creating reading lists inclusive of global majority writers, centring non-euro centric bodies and experiences in medicine to re-telling history from a decolonial perspective, it is an expansive project that requires strategic oversight if it is to achieve coordinated and impactful change.
Our decolonise work is currently in the midst of a 3 year strategic plan, and you would work to help us move into the next phase, working with relevant stakeholders to take the project forwards. We’re aware this is a big task! You’ll have the support of the education officers, education team, and campaigns and democracy team.
If you’re passionate about making impactful change, managing projects, and enhancing education services for students at the University of Manchester, then this could be the role for you!
Please read the full role profile before applying, as well as our guide to recruitment.
Details
Wage: £12.60 per hour + holiday pay
Contract: Zero Hours, Fixed-Term until June 2026
Hours: Up to 10 hours per week
Eligibility: Open to applicants with relevant skills and experience who are eligible to work in the UK and a current student graduating in 2026 or later.
Our Reward Package
You'll get access to our reward package which you can see here.
Recruitment Guide
We have a guide that explains our full recruitment process. We recommend reading through this before beginning an application.
If you are invited to interview with us, we will share our interview questions in advance so you can prepare your responses. We’re more interested in hearing about your experiences and ideas than in testing your memory, and so we want you to feel as prepared as possible.
AI Use
GenAI tools, like ChatGPT, are revolutionising how we approach a whole host of tasks at work. As a future-focused employer, we believe in embracing, not banning, these tools. However, as with all tech, some ways of using it are better than others. You can use GenAI to refine and articulate your ideas. It’s a tool to help structure your thoughts and improve clarity, not to replace your unique voice and experiences. Please don’t just copy and paste what AI tells you to write.
We recommend you read our guide on how to approach the use of AI within our recruitment process:
Inclusivity and Accessibility
We are committed to equality of opportunity, and we work hard to ensure we appoint based on skill and values.
We particularly encourage applications from Disabled or Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African candidates as these groups are currently underrepresented in our staff team.
If you have any accessibility requirements or require adjustments to support you to apply to work with us, please get in touch. We can offer reasonable adjustments at all stages of our recruitment process.
We are proud to be a Disability Confident employer. Under this scheme, we aim to offer an interview to candidates who declare a disability and meet the minimum essential criteria for the role. Minimum criteria are marked with an asterisk on the person specification. However, during periods of exceptionally high application volumes or peak recruitment times (i.e. July, August and September), it may not always be possible to guarantee an interview for every eligible candidate. In such cases, we will take steps to ensure that the process remains fair, consistent, and inclusive.
Recruitment Timeline
Applications opened: 7/11/2025
Applications close: 23/11/2025 23:59pm
Interviews: 9/12/2025
Role Commencing: 05/01/2026
We may close applications early if we receive a high volume of applications. We recommend that you apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment. Once the vacancy has closed, we’re unable to accept late applications to ensure a fair process for all candidates.
Contact
People Team:
You can contact the People Team with any questions regarding this vacancy or our recruitment process.
Email: jobs.su@manchester.ac.uk
Phone: 0161 306 3279
Hiring Manager: Sohini Biswas
You can contact the People Team with any questions regarding this vacancy or our recruitment process.
Email: sohini.biswas@manchester.ac.uk