In most universities in the UK relationships between students and staff are quite informal – staff will call you by your preferred name and will probably expect you to call them by their first name. Most are very approachable, and will be keen for you to join in with both the academic and, probably, the social life in the academic department or faculty. They will expect you to be active in your interaction with them – to stop them in the corridor to speak, to be relatively informal in your dealings with them and to try to make your work with them an enjoyable and positive experience.
Remember that most will be delighted that you are as interested and excited in the same things as they are and that you are somebody else who they can have serious academic discussion with in their specialist field. Being friendly, warm and approachable does not mean that they will not expect the highest of standards of academic work from you, though – indeed, it is one of the ways they hope that they can make this possible, and respect will be based on how you work and how you engage with your studies.
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