Hilary Wong: Candidate for VP Humanities and Social Sciences

By Julie Capkova

As the whole campus prepares to vote in the upcoming student elections, The Print has interviewed a number of candidates standing for representative and executive positions. All candidates were invited to participate. Those who did not respond are not included. Other candidates are available and students can see all of them on qmsu.org/elections. Anything mentioned in the text reflects the candidates’ opinions, not The Print’s. The length of the interviews does not imply preferences for a candidate, but instead ensures that we are factually reporting on their interviews. 

Hilary Wong is running for the VP Humanities and Social Sciences position. Whilst she was ‘really hesitant about running in the beginning,’ she then decided to run because: ‘Then it caught my interest, after all, it’s a very unique position. You don’t get many positions where you get to advocate for students directly. [...] I feel very passionate about advocating for students. People come to you with problems a lot of times, but what good are problems if no one does anything to change them?’ 

When asked what makes her the best option for this position she described herself as approachable and a ‘chatterbox’. Specifically she says: ‘I love talking to people and so that makes it very easy for me to advocate for students and their opinions.’ She further mentions the element of trust that comes with holding an executive role. If there’s a disagreement between two people, I would say that getting you to trust each other is the first step, because then you avoid conflict and you go about it in a very diplomatic way.’ 

When asked how she would go about representing everyone, Hilary replied that it is always difficult to ‘satisfy everyone’s problems, everyone’s needs and solve everything at once. [...] I'd go for the most pressing issues first’ 

In her campaign, Hilary addresses several key issues she would like to focus on and improve. Those mostly include assessment feedback, and module pickings. 

‘As a law student, feedback assessment is a big issue.’ She specifically describes it as vague, unhelpful, and difficult to improve based on it. To solve this, she would ‘talk directly to the head of departments, and approach how they could go about it,’ especially since academics face tight deadlines for gradings and feedback as well. Hilary further says: ‘If we had a rubric for what feedback would be given, that might help. Now we have a marking rubric, but that’s not necessarily reflected in our feedback. And I think that if markers could do the feedback based on the rubric, it would really, really help students.’ 

When it comes to module pickings, Hilary says, that ‘even if we know what the module is about, there’s still not enough information and access to students.’ She mostly wants to ensure that students have more ‘flexibility when changing the modules,’ especially with a very limited number of years at university ‘In those three years you really should have the flexibility and the options to choose where you want to go, even if it changes halfway. Because if not, you become very restricted.’ She specifically proposes a system of additional lectures. ‘At the end of the term, we could have additional lectures for the students to go in and have the module tutors from next year, explain the module a bit more.’ That way the students might learn better about what the module is actually about. 

Whilst these are the issues she would like to focus on throughout her term, she states that the first thing she would do if elected would be going through this year’s VP’s report. This would help her learn which plans could be implemented and continued. ‘When stepping into this role, you also have to think about succession planning also,’ she says, stressing that the SU works on a long-term basis. 

When asked what the biggest concern students face is, Hilary replied ‘Honestly there’s so much going on, it’s really difficult to say.’ She then however continued, by stating that it probably is burnout,  especially towards the end of Sem One, reflecting on the combination of London winters and the amount of work students get. ‘Once you fall behind, it’s difficult to catch back up, because the learning curve is so steep,’ she says. She believes that this could be addressed by giving students better guidance on how to ‘step back up on their feet,’ or even increased welfare initiatives. 

Hilary also mentions that when she decided to run, she reached out to the current office holder to learn more about the role. Still, one thing she would like to change or do differently in this position, is ‘become more seen,’ and become more involved in the functioning of clubs and societies. ‘After all, we are still students.’ 

When asked what she would consider a success at the end of her term, she replied: ‘If students are happier. And I know that this is very difficult to measure. But I think seeing the quality of courses in HSS. As much as I am for the students, I think it is equally as important to take note of how the departments themselves are doing. It’s important their mental wellbeing is good as well so they can deliver a good quality education.’

As a final message, Hilary addresses the elections themselves: ‘In the end it all comes down to who you think can advocate and follow through with the needs and wants of students. Advocating is one thing, following through is another. And good luck to all candidates!’ 

Voting runs from 23 to 26 March 2026.