What is Advocacy?
If you're doing any of the RED Awards, you'll need to complete the Advocacy section. This is your opportunity to reflect on your learning and experiences, and advocate for others to get involved.
The focus of your advocacy depends on the award you're completing:
- Professional Development Advocacy - Demonstrate how you will use the RED Professional Development Award to improve your employability.
- Sustainable Action Advocacy - Demonstrate your understanding of, and ability to advocate for, one or more of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, either at the University of Reading or beyond. PLEASE NOTE: Global Sustainability Leadership Scholars must show an alignment to the climate action goals 13, 14 and 15.
- Global Engagement Advocacy - Demonstrate how you're promoting respect for diversity, open-mindedness, cultural learning, and awareness of global issues, at the University of Reading or beyond.
How You Can Express Your Advocacy
You can express your advocacy in a format of your choice. Examples include:
- A poster talk, or presentation at the RED Conference
- Speaking at a university conference
- Contributing to an online or in-person forum (e.g. Conversation Café)
- Creating social media content (for Careers socials or another organisation)
- Writing a Student Life blog post
- Creating a podcast
- Writing a paragraph about your award to include in a covering letter or job interview, explaining its value to a prospective employer
Guidelines for Submitting Your Advocacy
- If you've completed your advocacy as a blog post, submitting it gives the Careers team permission to use all or part of it for social media or blog content
- If your advocacy was presented at a conference, please upload your participation certificate or presentation slides
- If you advocated via social media, provide screenshots of your post or include a link to the content in the text box provided on the pathway
Write This Yourself
If you choose to submit a written piece for this activity, please do not use AI tools (such as ChatGPT). We want to hear about your personal journey and AI-generated content is often too generic.
This is also a valuable opportunity to practice your authentic communication – a skill that’s increasingly important to employers. Many recruiters now use tools to detect AI-generated content, and doing so may harm your application.
Note for students doing the Sustainable Action Award:
As advocates for climate action, please also consider the environmental impact of AI tools and their impact on the planet.
Contact Us
If you have any questions, please get in touch:
Careers, Carrington First Floor
0118 378 8359 | red@reading.ac.uk