Ian Morton is senior campaigner at Universities UK, which represents all the nation’s universities. Here he describes how he keeps calm while storms rage on about government cuts.

My day

7.00am: Alarm goes off. I press snooze.

7.09am: Alarm goes off. I press snooze.

7.18am: Alarm goes off. I press snooze.

7.27am: Alarm goes off yet again. I resist the urge and pull myself out of bed.

7.50am: Once I’ve showered, etc. I usually spend about 20 minutes meditating. I started doing meditation after doing a course from Soul Purpose UK, and it’s really helped me at work, as well as at home, in terms of confidence boosting and general wellbeing.

8.20am: I have my daily Oatibix and head off for work while listening to the Today Programme.

9.00am: I sometimes try and clear my emails when I’m back at home in the evening, but if I haven’t done so I spend about 15 minutes in the morning doing this. I hate having an overfull inbox!

9.30am: We’ve got a daily headlines service at Universities UK and I quickly flick through the email to spot any opportunities for the main campaign I’m working on at the moment – Universities Week 2011.

9.45am: Spoke to BBC’s Dragons’ Den about the possibility of running a graduate/current student one-off episode in the next series. I send through a proposal and pray Dragons' Den bites.

10.30am: Really productive meeting with Kindred, the agency we’re working closely with on Universities Week 2011. Getting the right agency for a campaign like this is crucial. The meeting takes place at Kindred’s offices, just down the road in Covent Garden. I love working at Universities UK, but have to admit that I do miss the nature of agency work occasionally (I spent three great years at the CC Group in Reading).

12.30pm: I work very closely with the press office (I started out here) and at the moment I’m discussing our statement with them in response to an announcement from the Government.

2.00pm: Great brainstorm with Kindred at our place with a number of university marketing and PR colleagues for one of this year’s Universities Week themes. I leave the room buzzing!

3.30pm: Phone call with Kim at Reach Skills, who is trying to set me up with a mentor to aid my development at Universities UK. This is something in which Universities UK invests its time and energy – one of the great perks of the job.

5.00pm: I watch our CEO Nicola Dandridge being interviewed on the BBC News Channel, following our response to the Government announcement. Universities UK has seen a massively increased media presence since Nicola, and our president Steve Smith came in. This has also, of course, been affected by the recent university fees and funding debate. There’s never been a dull day.

6.30pm: I do my evening meditation when I get home, before I eat. Ideal if it’s been a frantic day at the office (recent government cuts to universities and the debate over fees has tested this theory). Fortunately today wasn’t one of them, but I still find it useful nonetheless.

8.00pm: I hardly ever watch TV nowadays – although I do love my football (Reading fan and proud), history programmes and Question Time. My girlfriend is another matter. She watches all the things I love to hate – like Deal or no Deal, Gossip Girl and Ugly Betty (thank God that’s finished). So I now find myself with one eye on the telly (reluctantly of course) and another on a good book.

9.30pm: I check out the Soul Purpose UK Facebook page, Twitter feed and blog. Ever since doing the course I’ve been keen to help it publicise its work. I set up the Facebook page and Twitter feed recently and I’ve been advising it on the redesign of forthcoming new website and promotional materials.

11.30pm: I’m terrible at getting to bed at a reasonable hour, but don’t do too badly this time, and I’m fast asleep within a few minutes.