Conal Baxter
Policy and research officer
English and History, 2017
Policy and Research Officer Conal Baxter has worked extensively in policy work after holding the position of Students’ Union President for a year after graduating from St Mary’s in 2017. Starting as a parliamentary assistant for a Members of the Legislative Assembly in Northern Ireland, Conal is now at Chest Heart & Stroke doing patient engagement and public affairs work. His year as Students’ Union President has proved highly formative in his subsequent career, helping him gain early experience in the charity sector and political sphere.
“St Mary’s allowed me to open up and realise that I can do things. There were so many opportunities that you could take, and ways that you could help people in the community.”
From Presidency to Policy
Conal graduated from St Mary’s in 2017 with a degree in BA English and History. He had known about St Mary’s as his mother had done her PGCE there and always spoke highly of it. Coming from Northern Ireland, Conal wasn’t able to attend an Open Day but was able to visit campus separately and thought it would be a lovely space to spend a few years.
As a student at St Mary’s, Conal enjoyed the small class sizes and the excellent teaching support from lecturers. He also appreciated being a short distance from Central London, with both his History and English classes going on regular trips to places like the Globe Theatre and the British Museum.
During his undergraduate degree, Conal ended up doing more English modules than History ones as he found the module options more interesting. One of his highlights was a module on Bob Dylan, which he remembers being fun.
“I liked that we did a bit of English Language as well as Literature on the course, you didn't get to do that in many other places.”
Conal was also highly involved in campus life, having lived on campus and being a Senior Resident in halls for his final two years. He shares that being a Senior Resident was when he started getting involved with the Students’ Union (SU) quite a bit, alongside being a part of the Gaelic Football Club.
He was then asked to become a part-time Welfare Officer for the Students’ Union which he was able to do alongside his studies. For Conal, this role was a good way to get into the Students’ Union and put him on the path to presidency.
“I didn't really know anybody when I started at St Mary’s, so getting involved in campus life was a great way to meet people and join the student community.”
In his final year, Conal was elected as President of the Students’ Union. He worked there for a year after graduation, overseeing the academic and education side of the SU, and sitting on committees with other members of the University. Conal shares that he enjoyed getting to meet a lot of different people, and was lucky to be mentored by some of the more senior staff.
It was doing this role that Conal’s interest in policy and public affairs began, as he was finding a lot of different opportunities in those areas. He was President for a year, before moving back to Northern Ireland and doing a master’s in Conflict Transformation and Social Justice at Queen’s University Belfast.
“There were so many opportunities and experiences that came with Students' Union President job, and those helped with my future career.”
“I wouldn't have got any of the first jobs that I did without working in the Students' Union.”
After his master’s, Conal became a parliamentary assistant for a Members of the Legislative Assembly in Northern Ireland and enjoyed working in the constituency office and engaging with members of the community
Since then, Conal has worked doing a few different policy jobs including in the Charity Commission as a policy and research officer, and in a charity called Parenting NI (now called Parenting Focus) where he led a policy team around early intervention, prevention, and parenting support. Conal then went to the General Medical Council as an expert in Northern Ireland, before recently starting at the charity Chest Heart & Stroke to do patient engagement and public affairs work.
Conal believes that without St Mary’s, he would not have landed any of his early roles. As President, Conal would regularly engage with politicians as the student representative for St Mary’s, talking about quite complex policy problems. He also worked closely with the NUS to provide evidence to an All Party Group in Westminster, which was strong experience that he used to get his parliamentary assistant job.
With the Charity Commission, his work at the SU was also crucial as the Students’ Union itself is a charity. As President, Conal also became Director and Trustee of the SU charity. So, when it came to his applications, he was able to understand the structure of how charities work, what being a trustee meant, and how reporting works.
On a more personal level, Conal shares that St Mary’s allowed him to open up and realise that he had the ability to do things. Being independent and moving away was a huge step for him at the time, and he remains grateful to have had that experience.
“There were so many opportunities that you could take, and ways that you could help people in the community.”
