UAL Halls Life

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Meet the faces behind the Halls Life team!

Halls Life

Posted 8 months ago

Mon 06 Oct, 2025 05:10 PM

Get to know the lovely people behind your 'Halls Life' team

What we do and who we are! 🏡🤩

Carley Owen

She/Her

Student Experience Manager

With over 15 years of impactful experience across the higher education and charity sectors, Carley is a multi award-winning events manager known for bringing energy, creativity, and purpose to everything she does. Her experience has enabled her to have the skills of combining academic insight with a deep understanding of people and communities.

Our 10 award wins for event delivery and support we have given to our residents in halls with particular focus on LGBTQ+ and neurodiverse students. Being queer and neurodiverse myself this has been a huge personal and professional achievement, I am super proud of my brilliant team.

Our annual events calendar and delivering this across our portfolio with the help of our student committees. We deliver over 600 events a year internal and external to halls and I love working with some top-quality venues external to UAL to provide memorable experiences for our students. Keep an eye out this year for job opportunities with our team and if you ever want to deliver and event or submit an idea for an event please do reach out to me and the team , we want to make your time in halls the best it can be.

Try something new each week, whether that is attending one of our many events from September and making new friends, chatting to new people in your hall including the excellent reception and site teams that there to support you or cooking up new recipes provided by UAL caterers Baxterstorey. Involve yourself in everything halls as to offer and you will make the most of your time here.

Kirsty Stanton

She/Her

Events Coordinator

I studied Fine Art at Chelsea College and still keep up my practice in my spare time and participate in exhibitions and in short films when I can. 👩‍🎨

I have with a special interest in monster films and love spending too much time and effort decorating when it comes to Halloween ✨👽🦇

I love experimenting with new events and am very lucky to be part of such a fun team who are always up for new challenges.

If you want an event to happen inside or outside your hall let me know and lets make it happen with your committees! I’ve been working in some capacity for Halls Life since 2018 so I am the team's ancient relic even at the ripe old age of 26. If you have any questions or ideas about events, I'm your girl.

For me its got to be the Big Queer Bus Tour culminating in the Queer Icons Ball at the Vauxhall tavern. It was a real treat to host an event in such an iconic venue, see some incredible costumes and spread some queer joy across campuses. We really loved showing our support for Trans and Non- binary students across London- particularly driving our Trans Liberation banners passed Parliament at such a crucial time. Of course it was also especially nice for the team to be recognized as community team of the year at the CUBO awards because of these activities and other like them across the year.

Having worked here a while now i know that my highlight of the year will not necessarily be on the cards at the beginning! I would say in the meantime I'm most excited to meet this year's crop of students and find out what they like and enjoy and do my best at helping to curate a calendar of events that appeals to them.

Make the first move. I met some of my best friends messing around hosting events in halls. The worst thing that you can do is leave uni regretting that you didn’t throw yourself into it. Go to the events, try new things and squeeze everything you can out of the experience. If you show up to something and you hate it you can just leave, but you’ll never even know what you might be missing if you never try.

Marco Bodi

He/Him

Student Wellbeing Coordinator

🇮🇹 Originally from Italy and a proud LCF graduate in Fashion Branding and Visual Merchandising, I now look after the Here 4 U wellbeing program in UAL Halls.

My role is all about supporting students living in halls — whether it’s offering cost of living support, hosting relaxing events, or just being a friendly face around. You’ll often find me popping up in halls with freebies and good vibes, so if you see me, come say hi! 😊

One of my favorite moments was bringing animal farms and puppies to halls! Being around animals brings so much joy and puts everyone in a good mood. Seeing students and staff light up with smiles is unbeatable! 🐑🐶

This year, I’m really excited about doing things differently. We’re launching a variety of new events and creative ways to support diverse communities, aiming to make our work more inclusive, engaging, and effective. I’m looking forward to seeing these ideas come to life and the difference they’ll make for students in halls.

Enjoy every single moment! It flies by faster than you think. Take every opportunity, don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone, meet new people, try new things, and most of all, embrace the journey. It’s all part of making unforgettable memories. 🎓✨

a woman wearing a jacket and smiling at the camera

Alicia Blake

She/Her

Events and Project Administrator

I’ve been part of the Halls Life team since September 2022 and have loved every moment. It’s incredibly rewarding to work alongside such a fun, dynamic group of people who are truly passionate about enhancing the student experience - no two days are ever the same!

I graduated from Canterbury Christ Church University in 2018 with First Class Honours in Performing Arts, and my creative background continues to be a big part of who I am. Outside of work, I enjoy performing in amateur musical theatre productions. My most recent shows have been ‘Crazy for You’, a high-energy tap-dancing musical, last year and ‘Our House’, a joyful, fast-paced jukebox musical set to Madness songs, this past May! 🎭

When I’m not rehearsing for a show, I’m usually at the theatre - either watching local productions in Essex or shows in London’s West End. Otherwise, you’ll find me at the gym or out walking my family French bulldog, Dolly, who I absolutely adore ❤️

One of the highlights of my year was definitely the visits from the Shiba Inu puppies, but equally memorable was watching the incredible journey of the students who took part in the Art of Drag course. Seeing their confidence and enthusiasm grow week by week through their videos truly showcased how much the experience meant to them ✨

What I’m most excited about is working with this amazing team again - now seven strong, with each member bringing their own passion and energy. I’m also really looking forward to diving even deeper into Events Marketing and finding new ways to get even more students involved in and inspired by the incredible events we offer. 🙌

Make the most of every moment at uni! Embrace every opportunity that comes your way and truly live in the present. Work hard but also prioritise your mental and physical wellbeing. Enjoy the freedom, independence and all the unforgettable adventures along the way 🫶🏼

James Stevens

He/Him

Halls Committee Administrator

I’m originally from Somerset and moved to London in 2018 to study at UAL. I graduated from CSM’s Fine Art Sculpture course focusing on virtual sculpture. I used to volunteer on a city farm so if you see me around, ask me about my farm TikTok to see all the cute baby animals I used to take care of. 😄

A highlight of the past year for me has to be the first ever Halls Life Masquerade Ball in March. Seeing everyone go all in with their costumes, ready to slay, really brought some much-needed fabulousness to the end of a long winter! 🌈🎭

I’m excited to see what’s next with our new team of committee members and all their fresh ideas for events around all our halls. 🪩✨

Make sure to get yourself out of your comfort zone! Everyone is in the same boat, so don’t feel silly or scared asking questions or approaching new people. 🙋‍♂️

Toby Robertshaw

He/Him

Halls Committee Administrator

I studied Acting and Performance at Wimbledon College of Arts, graduating in 2023 and joining the Halls Life team just two days after the graduation ceremony!

As part of the wellbeing support team, I’m always looking for ways to make your day a little brighter. I’ve also recently taken the lead on developing our Halls Life+ programme, running throughout September and beyond. These events are primarily aimed at mature students, postgraduates, and those who aren’t in their first year.

If you fit into one of those categories and have ideas for the types of events you’d like to see, feel free to drop me a message or come and say hello if you see me around.

When I’m not working in Halls Life, you’ll usually find me performing my own comedy theatre shows across the country. I love bringing my creative background into my role, whether that’s helping student committees build confidence through fun acting exercises or simply cracking a good joke in the office ( I think they’re good anyway…)

One of the highlights of the past year has been having a presence at almost every September event we delivered in 2025. Our events are carefully designed to offer something for everyone, and through them I’ve had the pleasure meeting EVERY kind of UAL student you could imagine.

Right now, I’m most looking forward to meeting and helping train our new student committees. Before September begins, we run an intensive in-person training week focused on building confidence and preparing committee members for their roles.

It’s always one of my favourite parts of the year because it’s where we really start to see teams come together, friendships form, and personalities shine.

Experiment, take risks, make mistakes, learn from others and most importantly...have fun! Be serious about not taking yourself too seriously.

Your time at university will fly by faster than you think. Make the most of being in an environment where you can embrace your creativity every single day and be unapologetically yourself.

Neelabh Kumar

He/They

Community Executive

Hi there! I’m Neelabh and I’m a non-confirming queer person. I was born in India under Virgo and I moved to London in 2024 to attend CSM for my MA. I joined the Halls Life team after graduating and found my calling in supporting and uplifting young creatives.

Prior to moving to London, I established and operated an independent art and design studio. Now, being part of Halls Life allows me to use my vast experience in creative thinking, craftsmanship and management to benefit future creative leaders, i.e. our students at UAL.

It has been an amazing year for me working with this team. My highlight has been seeing Halls Life make a real difference to the life of the students living in our Halls. If I had to pick one, it would have to be the Spa organised for our survey. It was really fun and full of interactions, a great chance to talk to students one on one.

I am the most recent addition to the halls life team and that makes this year full of new and wonderful opportunities. I am excited with all the changes that we are making to better serve students across UAL. I am also looking forward to making more art and learn from the many talented people around me.

My number one advice would be to get out there and explore, make mistakes and have fun. London is a city where you don’t want to stay at home. Even today, I am discovering new and interesting places here.