When I first started university in 2014, I noticed that, although there were over 250 societies and sports clubs that I could join, there was no astronomy society.

While this was a huge disappointment to someone who loves astronomy, I didn’t believe I had the knowledge, expertise or confidence to start one at the time. Therefore, I got involved in several societies, started to make friends, learnt more about astronomy and tried to gather as much experience as I could.

For example, I helped organise a trip to Strasbourg for 47 musicians, managed a turnover of more than £6k, redesigned a website, attended another edition of IAYC, pressured a national organisation into introducing an Equal Opportunities policy, acted as Vice-President of two societies… Needless to say, I gathered enough experience over that year to feel confident enough to create my own society.

So, whilst out observing with friends in February this year, I finally made the decision to start an astronomy society at university.

Here’s how I did it.

At first there was a lot of thinking and planning. I thought about what I wanted the society to offer its members. I drafted which roles I felt the committee would need, and what each role would involve. I spoke to my friend Daniel, who started an astronomy society at his university over a year ago, for his advice. I asked my personal tutor if the Physics Department would be willing to let the society use its equipment (which they are!).

Next, I began to collect signatures. At my university, you need at least 30 people to express interest before you can start a society, so I made a short online form for this purpose. At the bottom of the form, I included information about the roles available on the committee and asked for those interested to email me with a brief paragraph about themselves and why they would be good for the role. This form was then circulated – mostly to physics students, but it still managed to reach a number of non-physicists.

I was overwhelmed with the response – I received 77 signatures in total, and 9 applications for 4 committee positions. To be as fair as possible, I offered every applicant the opportunity to meet with me over a cup of tea to both elaborate on their email, and decide if they would like to work with me. I’d never “interviewed” people before; I found it a peculiar experience, yet strangely enlightening.

At the end of a hot drink filled week, I rearranged a couple of the roles to make 6 positions (keeping a fair workload balance), then let each person know my decision. There were so many strong applicants and it was the most difficult part of the process for me, but in the end I chose to put together the most diverse group of astronomy enthusiasts I could. Some of the group have years of experience with amateur astronomy, some are familiar with the theoretical side, some have never really used a telescope before.

Once the committee was established, the next thing to do was to get everyone together to discuss the society’s goals and direction (and to decide how to pitch ourselves to the Societies Exec, the group of elected students, and Student Union staff, who decide which prospective societies become officially recognised). Our first meeting was a success, and led on to myself and the VP preparing some slides for our presentation to the Societies Exec. The slides were kept very simple and covered our aims and objectives whilst containing evidence to prove us a viable society. Unfortunately, we only had a chance for one run-through of the presentation before the meeting, but we kept to the time limit (just) and were not asked any “you’ve overlooked this very important detail” questions.

Two days ago, I received an email from the Chair of the Societies Exec letting me know that they had voted to recognise Astronomy Society as an official SU society! Yippee! We’ll be getting set up over the Easter break and will run a series of informal events over the summer term to prepare for our next challenge – getting our name out there at Freshers’ Fair!

Advice to someone looking to set up their own society?

I would say it’s crucial to have a clear plan before you start; I’d recommend talking it through with some close friends before you get the ball rolling. You certainly don’t need a huge amount of society-related experience before setting up your own – finding a strong team that shares your goals and is willing to support you is far more important. Finally, my experience working with the SU clued me in to what sort of things they were looking for in our presentation. If you’re not sure what your SU (or equivalent) is looking for, I’d recommend asking someone who does – don’t be afraid to ask your most daft questions; you’re better off looking daft before your presentation than during it!

If you have any questions about my experience setting up a new university society, please feel free to drop me a comment below or find me on Twitter [at]nikkehmiller.

---

P.S. from the future: My astronomy society went on to win the SU Best New Society award in 2017 🙂