Cambridge University Russian Society is a fascinating community of Russian students of one of the best universities in the world. I’ve been contributing to the activity of the Society for already more than one year. In previous committee I was responsible for inviting outstanding Russian people to share their standpoint on a sphere of their interest and to give answers to various other questions. I successfully organised talks with Andrei Kochergin, Evgeny Chichvarkin and Andrei Konchalovsky.

This year I would like to intensify my participation in the Society. Therefore, I would like to nominate my candidature for the position of president.

As the one who is “answerable for all matters affecting the Society” I intend to concentrate on three main points during forthcoming year:

1. Improving the financial situation of the Society through more active fundraising;
2. Bringing the quality of the Society’s events to a higher level by thorough preparation for the events, paying attention to details and prioritizing in terms of choosing currently the most actual activities;
3. Making public the activity of the Society not only within Cambridge city but also both nationwide and even internationally by consolidating and improving the means of spreading information the Society already possesses;

All listed changes I plan to implement in accordance with the great CURS traditions and with close attention to other committee members’ involvement.

My intention is to serve the Society by consolidating all the efforts of active Society members; together we can make our great ideas happen. An important aspect of my mission is helping Society members to physically implement their ideas – offer help at all stages from initial discussions to final arrangements. I plan to keep the best Society traditions: regular talks by prominent speakers, “Chto? Gde? Kogda?”, conversational evenings and our famous Vodka Party; ensure smooth running of Society’s everyday life; support for Russian newcomers to Cambridge, and extend links with Russian groups or societies outside Cambridge; we can share our experience, organise joint events – and have more fun!

Having served on the JCR committee at my undergraduate college and now taking on the role of International Officer at Wolfson, I think I am well-equipped for this role. I would love the opportunity to be involved in the running of the Russian Society, and to work with the rest of the committee to put together a great programme of events for you over the coming year. As well as being responsible for minuting meetings and sending information to our members about the events we are running, I also want to organise chocolate, wine and whisky tastings, and I intend to look into the possibility of a cheese tasting and perhaps an ice-cream tasting during the summer term!

I am enthusiastic and energetic person and have been in Cambridge for a while, so I have a courage to suggest that I might be of a good use to the Russian Society Committee as the Treasurer . Also I could assist with facilitating various activities, such as ChGK, Vodka Party and others.

You can find more info about Neil here:
http://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/people/kent/

I enjoy communicating with people (especially when I can do it in Russian) and prefer to spend my free time on projects to benefit the Russian speaking community rather than on drinks and clubs. I was one of the founders of the SIFE team in the Novosibirsk State University, took part in the School of Leaders Intel and was a head of the Employment department in the NSU Student Trade Union. Therefore, I look forward to the next year helping to the CURS in their initiatives.

I have been inextricably linked with CURS for many years, being its Vodka Officer (2004-2005), President (2005-2006), Consultant (2006-2007), and Trustee in Science and Technology (2007-2011), and Councillor (2011-2012). I would like to join the Executive Committee 2012-2013 to share my experience, enthusiasm and love for the Russian culture and language. In 2011, I obtained a £1,000 grant to allow the winner of a special CURS prize to visit Cambridge in spring 2012. In the short term, I would like to continue promoting CURS support for STEM activities (e.g. via another grant). In the longer term, I am interested in establishing exchange programmes and scholarships between Cambridge and Russia (e.g. with Skolkovo Tech).

I started to play “Chto?Gde?Kogda?” when I was eleven, and have been immersed in the world of this truly noble game ever since. I intend to spread the popularity of this game among Cantabrigians, and also hope to be able to coordinate the development of teams that are going to keep up with the winning pace set by the Cambridge teams on both national and international levels.

My aspiration is to further promote and maintain what CURS is doing at the moment, expand its membership and scope of activities. I suggest there should be a greater variety of social activities including pub quiz nights, pub crawls, theme parties, swaps and game nights. All these activities are still based on a conversational event framework, and another option for the future might be to hold conversational evenings in cooperation with the CU Language Centre.

After serving in the CURS Committee as the Public relations officer I would like to make the Society’s projects more visible in diverse social media. My intention is to provide an informative and artistic reading experience for our website visitors so that they can enjoy Russian culture, learn the language and get informed about the themes behind our Cambridge events. I am also happy to help and advise other Committee members about advertising their specific projects and to create a long-lasting dialogue with CURS members and supporters as we check with them what content or information they miss in Cambridge.

As you might know last year I actively took part in activities of CURS being a secretary. This year I want to focus on two projects:
- bringing to Cambridge a high class theatre performance from Russia;
- helping organizing a conference “Russian-British historical connections in science” in Cambridge.

Both events are expected to be of highest quality and will definitely contribute to the reputation of CURS.

During my stay in Cambridge I have gradually become involved in the CURS activities and joined the 2011/2012 Executive Committee as a Sports Officer. I have organised the friendly football game every weekend and cyclocrosses. As Sports Officer in the new year I would like to keep these going on and I will do my best to organise other social sports activities.

I have many Russian or Russian-speaking friends, find Russian culture very interesting and to some extent similar to my way of thinking (I am originally from Iran). What I particularly like about CURS is its friendly environment and the sociable people in it. Therefore, I would like to be more involved with the society and I look forward to helping to organize some of the events. I hope that by doing this I can contribute to CURS and make it an even better society.

I have been involved in the work of the CURS committee for the last two years and would like to continue helping the Society in organising various events, especially “What? Where? When?” quiz games, guest speakers’ talks, and parties. With my presidentship experience of the last year I will be happy to support the new committee with advice as well as active participation in the events organised by CURS.

After 2 years of my service at CURS committee as What?-Where?-When? Officer and president, I would like to offer this experience as well as my past multi-year NGO experience in a councillor quality. I would also be happy to contribute to general organisational routine of CURS and various events, especially cultural ones.

Having previously served on the committee as Events Officer, I would welcome the opportunity to join forces with a newly elected executive team. My main aim will be to strengthen existing and establish new ties between CURS and interested parties outside Cambridge.