Certainly! Any student can stand for election! If elected to a full-time role, you take a year out from your studies to be a paid Full-Time Student Officer!

Take some time to read through the roles and think about speaking to the current student rep in that role.

If you are still unsure, just contact the SU Voice team who will go through the options with you or you can attend one of our Election Info Sessions to ask / learn about details of the roles.

You can apply for one of the Full-Time roles, one of the Faculty roles and one of the School Rep roles.

You can apply for as many Association Chairperson roles for which you are eligible.

Undergraduate School and Faculty Rep roles are open to undergradaute students not in their final year of study.

Definitely! International students can run in all of our roles, including the Full-Time Student Officer roles.

Working in a Full-Time Student Officer Role (also known as a "Sabbatical" role) is specifically permitted under the terms of a UK Student Visa. If elected to a Full-Time role, you will be required to seek additional permission to stay in the UK using your Student Visa. This is normally very straightforward. Your time spent as a Full-Time Student Officer does not count towards the maximum period that you are permitted to spend in this visa category.

The Students’ Union will even contribute to your visa costs! (Contact International Student Support for specific visa advice.)

This is usually possible, particularly if you are self-funding.

If you receive funding from the University or from an external source, there may be certain criteria that you have to meet.

Each situation will be different. Contact the SU Voice team if you have any queries.

This is usually possible, particularly if you are self-funding. Things might be a bit more complicated if you are externally funded.

Many PGT students either defer their dissertation, or complete it early if they are elected as Student Officers. We can also work out a plan to enable you to submit your dissertation on time if you are elected.

Each situation will be different. Contact the SU Voice team if you have any queries.

The rule of the agreement between INTO and Queen’s do not allow INTO-Queen’s students to stand to be Full-Time Student Officers.

INTO-Queen’s students can run to be Student Councillors, School Representatives, Course Representatives, Conference Delegates, and Association Chairpersons and Committee Members.

The Students’ Union aims to be as accessible as possible and we are continuously working to make our elections more accessible. We will make all the reasonable adjustments that we can to make our elections and our roles as accessible le as possible.

Each case will be different and require a personalised approach. If you have any queries contact the SU Voice team at the earliest possible opportunity and we can start working on a tailored support package to meet your requirements.

As a Full Time Student Officer, you'll receive £21,000 over 12 months with 42 days' holiday, including all the Statutory and University holidays. The role starts on 1 July, 2023 and ends on 30 June, 2024.

Campaigning is all about getting other students to vote for you. If well planned, it is straightforward to create an effective campaign.

We will provide guidance and training on how to organise an effective campaign.

If you would like more advice on campaigning, just contact us or attend some of the campaign support sessions we provide for candidates!

We usually don’t provide direct funding. For candidates for full-time roles we provide printed materials (such as posters / leaflets).

Candidates in all elections will be able to spend up to £60 of their own funds (non-refundable) on an election campaign. (Most candidates – even for Full-Time Student Officer Roles – spend nothing on their campaigns.)

An effective campaign does not need to be costly. It needs to be creative, innovative and organised!

All candidates for full-time roles must complete the nomination form and equality opportunities monitoring form, upload a photo, manifesto and slogan. The manifesto should be provided as text / images and also as 4-page A4 manifesto document.

Tips for a great manifesto:

• Manifestos for full-time posts are usually a bit longer than those for part-time posts.
• The manifesto, including all graphics and images should not be more than 4 A4 pages in length. This usually adds up to a couple of pargraphs of actual text.
• Keep it easy to read and focus on what makes you the perfect person for the role!
• Try not to waste space with obvious statements. (e.g. “It is important that we all get a good education.”
• Focus on your experience as a student and on the things that you would like to change!
• Don't make loads of commitments that you won't be able to follow through with. Remember, the purpose of a manifesto is to convince students that you are knowledgable and can bring about change.
• Make sure that your goals are both inspriational and achievable! Remember, it takes time and energy to achieve things once you are elected to a post!

 

Manifestos often follow the following structure:

• Outline why you are running (Your motivation)
• Give a brief personal introduction (Example: your course of study, where you are from, Clubs/Societies in which you are involved, any relevant experience)
• Briefly outline some changes you want to make / work on if you are elected
• Remind people to vote for you and when/where they can vote!

 

If you are looking for manifesto examples, contact the SU Voice team and they can send you some examples from previous election campagins.

The Students’ Union will also print the following election promotional materials for each candidate:

• A3 Posters (Colour) x 30
• A5 Flyers (Colour) x 2500
• T-Shirts (Students' Union provided) x 5
• A0 Posters (Colour) - Printed and used internally by the SU for promotion.

 

A4 Manifestos will be published on the Students' Union website. We are providing all colour materials to candidates this year.

We use the A0 poster design you provide in our overall election promotion. (i.e. We will print A0 posters and place them where they will be visible to students.)

We are allowing all candidates to submit their election promotional materials after the close of nominations. You must complete the online nomination from by Thu 2 Feb, 5pm. You can submit all your election promotional materials at any point up to Tue 7 Feb, 9am.

It is important that all promotional material is submitted on time. Late submissions will not be accepted.

If you don't think that you will use all the printed materials listed above, tell us and we will print fewer items for you.

Candidates should also be available to attend the Students’ Union for a brief photoshoot on Mon 6 Feb. Each candidate will be allocated a time to attend. These protrait photos will be used by the Students’ Union to promote the elections to students.

The Students' Union is not recording candidate videos this year. Candidates are free to record their own promotional election videos.

Faculty,School and Association Chairperson Roles - You need to provide:

• A completed election profile on our election website. This is available through your nomination form and lets you upload a photo, a “manifesto” detailing what you will do if elected, and a short 50-word slogan which will appear on the ballot paper.

 

Tips for a great manifesto:

• Most successful candidates for these roles produce a short manifesto. No more than 4-6 sentences in total.
• Keep it easy to read and focus on what makes you the perfect person for the role!
• Try not to waste space with obvious statements. (e.g. “It is important that we all get a good education.”
• Focus on your experience as a student and on the things that you would like to change!

 

Manifestos often follow the following structure:

• Outline why you are running (Your motivation)
• Give a brief personal introduction (Example: your course of study, where you are from, Clubs/Societies in which you are involved, any relevant experience)
• Briefly outline some changes you want to make / work on if you are elected
• Remind people to vote for you!

 

Voting will take place on the Students' Union webiste from Mon 6 Mar, 12noon, until Thu 9 Mar, 3pm.

The Results are scheduled to be announced on the evening of Thu 9 Mar, at approx 7pm.