Ryan Loh

Engaged in community grassroots work on a non-consecutive basis on my bi-annual visits to my family's home in Singapore where I served as a volunteer at weekly Meet-The-People sessions (Hong Kah North Branch), a programme which enables residents of a constituency to directly seek assistance from their elected member of parliament in resolving various concerns or issues encountered in daily living. As a volunteer working on the behalf of the Member of Parliment for the Bukit Batok/Jurong constituency, my duties included interviewing residents, listening to their concerns and subsequently writing letters to relevant government departments on the behalf of the preceding Member of Parliament to address any concerns which may be brought up by interviewed constituents.

In my tenure as President of the QUT Chess Club, I was provided the opportunity to plan and run weekly club meets in addition to planning, coordinating and hosting two inter-university chess tournaments between the chess clubs of QUT and UQ, and QUT and Griffith, respectively.

Was elected vice president of the then-recently established QUT Disability Collective, a student association founded with the objective of better supporting students living with disabilities, chronic illnesses and mental health condition at QUT.

During my tenure as Vice President, I was provided the opportunity to lead the Disability Collective in advocating for the rights of and needs of students living with disabilities at QUT, particularly for those who were incapable of advocating for themselves. As Vice President, I additionally held the responsibility of ensuring the physical and mental wellbeing of impacted students, to which end I conducted routine check-ins with students via both face-to-face meetings in addition to the Disability Collective's Facebook group.

In February of 2020, I was selected to as a volunteer of Malaysian Students Council of Australia- Queensland (MASCA QLD) during which time I held several responsibilities, most notability assisting in the development, curation and subsequent launch of that year's issue of MASQ, MASCA's annual magazine, in addition to aiding in the planning, organizing and hosting of that year's Malaysian Independence Day celebrations, during which I held the responsibility of contacting and subsequently liaising with performers who were willing to perform at the event.

In March 2019, I founded the QUT Storybrewers Society (Now QUT Inklings Storytelling Society), a student society for aspiring and emerging authors studying at QUT. As the first President of the then-QUT Storybrewers Society, my responsibilities initially included gathering a minimum of 20 signatures and submitting an Expression of Interest for the establishment of the then-Storybrewers Society as an official student society affiliated with the QUT Guild, QUT's student union. Following the club's establishment, my responsibilities would shift as I would become responsible for the planning, organizing and facilitating of the club's weekly meetings, occurrences which would cumulate in the organization and subsequent hosting of two major in-person events within the first year of the student society's establishment.

Was selected to be a part of a committee in the planning, marketing and subsequent running of the QUT Singapore Students Association 2019 National Day celebrations. Within the committee, As a volunteer, I had the duty of searching and reaching out to food and beverage vendors who may have wished to sell their dishes and refreshments on the day of the event, following which I assisted in the marketing of the event in addition to the running one of two registration booths on the day of the event.

In early 2020, I completed a month-long internship with Singapore's Ministry of Education during which I was provided the opportunity to engage in a number of projects including a literature review pertaining to assistive technologies which may be introduced to support students with vision impairment, a brochure for parents of students with disabilities which outlined the parenting styles best suited toward parenting students living with various disabilities, and recommendations which may be implemented by the Ministry to better support students with disabilities who may be attending non-additionally resourced mainstream government schools. During the internship, I was also provided the opportunity to attend a beginning of semester Case Management Team meeting at First Toa Payoh Primary School during which I was afforded the opportunity to perform advocacy on the behalf of several students living with disabilities whom were then enrolled at the school. Further school visits during my internship also provided me the opportunity to engage directly with parents of students living with disabilities and perform further advocacy in addition to engage in the individualized teaching of, and provision of additional support to a number of students with disabilities who were enrolled in an early intervention program conducted by Singapore's Ministry of Education.