As the Student’s Union’s Education Officer during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ashley Slanina-Davies championed fairer policies and more compassionate systems when students needed it most.
Now a mental health researcher at UCL’s Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ashley brings the same people-first approach to understanding how exercise can help treat depression.
Ashley’s route into higher education was an unusual one. Before UCL, she spent 15 years working as an actor, later retraining as a yoga teacher, personal trainer and massage therapist, work that deepened her interest in how people connect with their bodies and wellbeing. When she set her sights on neuroscience, she had no traditional qualifications, but she was determined to find a way. Two years of persistence and a Certificate of Higher Education at Birkbeck eventually brought her to UCL.
Here, she found a community that aligned with her belief that education is transformative and should be open to people from all backgrounds. That conviction shaped her work as Students’ Union Education Officer, where she became determined to help students navigate complex processes.
If you have a passion, someone should help you bring it out in ways that are accessible to you. Education is transformative - not just the university kind, but any learning that helps you grow into who you want to be.
One of her key priorities was reforming the interruption of studies process, making it more humane, flexible, and better aligned with how people recover from difficult circumstances.
When Covid hit, this work became even more pressing. Ashley acted as a bridge between a vast student body and decision-makers within the university, helping to ensure students weren’t left behind during the rapid shift to online. She worked to support self-certification for extenuating circumstances and improve the timing and clarity of communications during a period of heightened anxiety.
We’re all in the same storm, but some of us are in a cruise ship and some are in a canoe.
Today, Ashley works full-time on a clinical trial investigating exercise as a treatment for depression, alongside completing a part-time PhD at UCL. Her work brings together her scientific curiosity, commitment to mental health, and belief that support must meet people where they are:
Participants are more than a data point. I want to make sure my research translates into real change.
