Students from across the British Isles gathered in London this weekend for the ninth Annual Convention and Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies (The AHS), where a new leadership team for the AHS was elected.
The AHS is a section of the British Humanist Association (BHA) and is made up of non-religious student societies at universities across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It aims to have a thriving member society on every university campus in the UK and Ireland, and works to defend and uphold the rights of non-religious students.
The AHS Convention and AGM moves from city to city each year as different member societies take turns hosting the AGM. This year’s festivities were held in association with Imperial Atheists, Secularists and Humanists, which hosted the AGM at Imperial College London on Sunday, while Saturday’s Annual Convention entertained nearly 200 people at the historic humanist venue of Conway Hall, where an enormous cast of speakers assembled by the AHS included BHA President Shappi Khorsandi, humanist philosopher Stephen Law, leading biochemist Nick Lane, and many others.
At the AGM on Sunday, representatives of student societies from the UK and Ireland elected a new Executive of the AHS, composed of Hari Parekh (President), Alexa Robertson (Secretary), and Stephen Hawkins (Treasurer). Society members also voted to create a fourth Executive post, Head of Membership, to be elected at a special Extraordinary General Meeting in July, following a handover period from the current Executive. Outgoing President Richard Acton, Secretary Caitlin Greenwood, and Treasurer Luke Dabin were all thanked for their work over 2015–2016, including the organisation of the momentously successful AHS Convention that same weekend.
Hari Parekh was previously the President of the University of Northampton Atheist, Humanist and Secularist Society, and currently serves as the New Societies Officer of the AHS, helping to start new member societies at campuses around the UK and Ireland. His MSc research has focused on ‘apostates’ and their experiences of social exclusion and abuse. Secretary-elect Alexa Robertson is the current AHS Charity and Campaigns Officer, helping to organise its annual Non-Prophet Week fundraising drive among other things, and also served as Secretary of the University of Nottingham Atheist, Secularists and Humanists. Treasurer-elect Stephen Hawkins is the current President of the University of Exeter Atheist, Humanist and Secular Society, prior to which he was the Events Manager.
President-elect Hari Parekh commented, ‘It is an honour to be elected as the next President of the AHS. Over the course of my term, I plan to support the work of our membership officers to help the AHS develop further, and to bring us closer to having a thriving atheist, humanist, or secular society at every institute of higher education in the UK and Ireland.
‘I also intend to work closely with officers to ensure that the AHS supports the needs of the students we aim to represent. It’s important for me that the AHS is able to provide a community for students who are not religious. Many students from devout communities face severe ostracism and rejection when they leave religion behind, and the difficulties they face are all too often invisible. I aim to raise awareness of these students’ problems and their specific needs, and to ensure that every AHS society is nurturing a community and a support structure for such students to belong to.’
Notes
For comment or information, contact Hari Parekh, AHS President-elect (president@ahsstudents.org.uk) or email the BHA (info@humanists.uk).
The National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies (AHS) is the umbrella organisation for all non-religious student societies in institutes of higher education across the UK and Republic of Ireland. The AHS’s vision is a thriving atheist, humanist or secular student society in every institute of higher education in the UK and Republic of Ireland, networked together, with a shared voice in public life, whose members can contribute to and be part of the wider national and international movement. The AHS’s mission to build, support and represent atheist, humanist and secular student societies; to facilitate communication between them, to encourage joint actions and to ensure that their members have opportunities to be part of the wider national and international movement. It is a section of the British Humanist Association.
The British Humanist Association is the national charity representing and supporting the interests of ethically concerned, non-religious people in the UK. It is the largest organisation in the UK campaigning for an end to religious privilege and to discrimination based on religion or belief, and for a secular state.