My name is Ciarnan Helferty and I am the USI Northern Area Officer for 2010-11.

This will be my second year in the role of Northern Area Officer. However, I initially started my career in student politics as President (08-09) and Vice-President (07-08) of Queen’s University in Belfast.

In addition to my work in Students’ Unions I am very active with Amnesty International (UK), where I am currently the Vice Chairman of their Board of Directors. I also work closely with the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education (NICIE) and the Integrated Education Fund (IEF), which together fund and support the provision of integrated education in Northern Ireland.

Finally I have been active within the company ‘Northern Services Ltd.’ serving as President of the company in 2008-09. Northern Services is a purchasing consortium of students’ unions based in Scotland and Ireland, which utilise the collective purchasing power of students’ unions to negotiate and secure the best deals and prices for students and students’ unions.

The role of Northern Area Officer is unique within USI as - in addition to my officer role in the south of Ireland - I am a full time officer of the National Union of Students (UK). These are both ex-offcio positions by virtue of my election as President of NUS-USI, which is an organization formed by the National Union of Students UK (NUSUK) and the Union of Students in Ireland (USI).

NUS-USI provides representation and support to students throughout their time at University or College in Northern Ireland representing all students in both the Higher Education and Further Education Sector. NUS-USI is the voice of over 220,000 students in Northern Ireland.

If you need to contact me, please email me on  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .