📖 Episode Summary

From managing leisure centres in the UK to leading UQ Sport, steering the QUT Guild through reform, and now shaping the Student Experience Network, Paul Clayton has spent his career building communities where students thrive. In this conversation, Paul shares what makes a great student organisation, the difference between student voice and representation, and why accountability and governance matter. We explore inspiring stories of student leaders who reshaped constitutions, the growing focus on wellbeing and governance reform across Australia, and what’s in store for SENCON 2025 in Brisbane. Paul leaves us with a simple but powerful lesson: the best student leaders put service at the centre of everything they do.

💬 Key Quotes

• “What makes a good student organisation is leaders who want to be the voice of students, not just the voice of themselves.”

• “I never went to uni straight from school, but working alongside students opened my eyes — their energy, their honesty, their fresh ideas.”

• “Put a student on a university board and what you create is transparency and accountability. How can that ever be a bad thing?”

• “When run well, student guilds and unions are an absolute asset to any university. Any university that thinks otherwise is wrong.”