£13.71 per hour plus £1.65 holiday pay
Advertising End Date
12 Oct 2026

Role & Department Overview

Strengthening Lancaster University’s commitment to widening participation (WP) and communities underrepresented in higher education, the WP team are looking for current LU students with an interest in and enthusiasm for working with young people, to share insights into university life and support pupils to make informed decisions at every stage of their educational journey. The Widening Participation Team is seeking enthusiastic and experienced students to join us as WP Ambassador Leaders. This role is ideal for individuals who are passionate about widening access to higher education and who are ready to take responsibility for leading and supporting teams of ambassadors during activities.  

As an Ambassador Leader, you will have the opportunity to work with young people of primary age through to secondary and sixth form, taking a lead role in delivering widening access projects and initiatives. For example, this may include on campus events; in school workshops; overnight residentials and online activities.  

The WP team deliver the following programmes: 
  • Lancaster Access Programme (LAP) [Years 12 and 13] 
  • Access to Medicine (A2M) [Year 12]
  • Children and Young People’s Partnership (CYPP) [Years 5 and 6]
  • Discover [Years 8-10] 
For more information, please visit the WP webpages: Widening Participation - Lancaster University 

Diversity and lived experience
The Widening Participation (WP) team promotes equality of opportunity within higher education, and we welcome applications from students from diverse backgrounds.  
 

Pay Rate: £13.71 per hour plus £1.65 holiday pay

Start Date: 1st August 2026

End Date: 28th August 2026

Job Description

Event delivery
  1. To work with the WP Project Lead and a team of WP Team Members to deliver Lancaster’s widening access projects on campus. This includes monitoring the quality of activity delivery and provide feedback to Project Leads to support continuous improvement.  
  2. To travel to other locations/venues (i.e. schools, colleges and community groups) for WP events to promote Lancaster University. 
  3. To supervise the travel arrangements of young people attending WP events at Lancaster University (i.e. by coach, train or taxi).
  4. To deliver pre-written session plans in accordance with the risk assessment, using your initiative to adapt content and make any reasonable adjustments needed.
  5. To work with a range of stakeholders including visiting teachers and pastoral staff and other internal LU staff to successfully lead/deliver WP activities. This includes supporting the development of positive relationships with teachers, advisors and other stakeholders. 
  6. To identify and address concerns during daytime or online event delivery i.e. behaviour management or safeguarding and follow the associated procedures. For example, escalating to Project Leads, school/college staff or LU Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL).
  7. To provide effective supervision of young people staying on campus overnight, (where LU is in loco parentis), this includes triaging/addressing issues and escalating concerns to LU staff or DSL as appropriate.
  8. To act as a key point of contact between WP Team Members and Project Leads during event delivery
Leading others
  1. To lead and coordinate teams of WP Ambassadors during widening participation activities, ensuring sessions are delivered to a high standard and objectives are achieved.
  2. To act as a role model for WP Ambassadors, demonstrating professionalism and best practice during all activities.
  3. To provide informal feedback to ambassadors to support their confidence, performance and professional development.
  4. Take responsibility for the smooth running of designated activities, making operational decisions where appropriate and escalating issues when required.
Working with young people
  1.  To emphasise the benefits of higher education and encourage young people (of all ages) to identify their strengths and personal qualities.
  2. To give an authentic insight into the Lancaster University experience, including accurate information, advice and guidance on a range of topics i.e. student finance, degree courses, student support and university life.
  3. To enthuse and motivate young people to facilitate learning (being a positive role model and displaying a ‘can do’ attitude is essential to the role). 
  4. To make sure that young people are engaged in activities and understand session content, providing one-to-one or small group support as needed.
Other
  1. To develop bespoke session content, resources, case studies or other materials at the request of the Project Lead, (this may include online content for social media purposes)
  2. To support the evaluation of widening access provision, including participating in focus groups or other initiatives to provide SA feedback.
  3. To complete designated training (including facilitating a campus tour) and an enhanced DBS check (where appropriate) prior to session delivery.
  4. To undertake duties in accordance with university policy relating to safeguarding, health/safety and equality, diversity and inclusion.  
Project specific duties/responsibilities may include:
 
Lancaster Access Programme
 
  • To provide constructive written feedback on reflective pieces or personal statements as part of the Lancaster Access Programme.
  • To travel to partner school/colleges to promote to Lancaster Access Programme (delivering presentations) to prospective Year 12 and 13 students.

Person Specification

Skills & Experience
 
  • Previous experience of working with young people and/or a clear understanding of widening participation/youth engagement. For example (but not limited to), volunteering, tutoring or mentoring. (Essential)
  • Highly organised and proven ability to work both independently and collaboratively to deliver sessions to groups of young people (various age ranges). (Essential)
  • Excellent communication skills and an aptitude for explaining difficult concepts and key ideas in simplistic and creative terms. (Essential)
  • The ability to enthuse and motivate young people (i.e. friendly, upbeat and enthusiastic) and positive attitude towards learning. (Essential)
  • The ability to lead and motivate peers in a professional environment. (Essential)
  • Experience of developing written materials i.e. session plans, educational resources and presentations. (Essential)
  • Experience of supervising or leading others/motivating peers in a team situation. (Essential)
  • Ability to coordinate multiple people and tasks simultaneously while maintaining a positive participant experience (Essential)
  • The capacity and confidence to delegate activities appropriately, providing other members of the team with ownership over set tasks. (Essential)
  • Experience of following processes and procedures, demonstrating problem solving skills and seeking advice/escalating issues as required. (Essential)
  • Awareness of safeguarding when working with young people and the parameters of confidentiality. (Essential)
  • Reliable, committed and punctual. (Essential)
Other Experience
 
  • We would particularly welcome applications from students that have previously taken part in a widening participation (WP) project delivered by Lancaster University as a prospective student. (Desirable)
  •  We would particularly welcome applications from students from diverse backgrounds and lived experiences. (Desirable)
  • We would particularly welcome applications from students that have been eligible for Free School Meals, Pupil Premium or lived experience of SEND/care leavers. (Desirable)
  • Experience mentoring, coaching or supporting peers. (Desirable)
  • Experience as an ambassador previously, student representative or equivalent outreach/volunteering role. (Desirable)

Working in this role will help develop the following skills and experience:

  • Collaboration
  • Emotional Intelligence
  • Integrity
  • Flexibility
  • Leadership
  • Multi - Tasking

You are required to submit a cover letter to support your application. Applications without a cover letter will not be considered.

Please note: Unless specified otherwise in the advert wording, this role is only open to individuals living in the UK.

Under the terms of this work, we endeavour to provide the advertised number of hours however, hours are not guaranteed and that work may cease if there is a fall in demand. 

Adverts that display a closing date should be treated as a guide. We reserve the right to close the vacancy once we have received sufficient applications, so we advise you to submit your application as early as possible to prevent disappointment.

Apply

Help and advice on making applications can be found on the Lancaster University Careers pages. Visit www.lancaster.ac.uk/careers.

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