Nominations stage

Yes, as long as you are a current Queen Mary student. All positions are open to students that are studying in the 2024/25 academic year.

The six Executive Officer roles are open to students that expect to complete their studies in 2024/25, as well as those that plan to continue their studies next academic year. If you get elected, you can start the role immediately after you finish your studies, or you can interrupt your studies and take a year out to be an Officer. The Executive Officer roles are full-time paid roles, so it’s not possible to study while you are an Officer.

International students can also run for the full-time roles. The Students’ Union isn’t able to provide visa advice, but you can find further information on UKCISA's website. If you get elected, the university’s Immigration Team can provide guidance on any paperwork that needs to be completed.

Student Trustee positions are part-time voluntary roles that can be undertaken while you study.

No, the most important thing is that you are passionate about being the voice for the students you represent.

We don’t require any prior experience, but we can guarantee that the elections can give you lots of experience and help you learn new skills (even if you don’t win). All candidates are offered training on campaigning, and at the end of the elections period, you’ll have had an opportunity to develop your communications skills, organisational skills, time management and persuasion skills.

Have you already made the decision to run?

The next step for you is to submit a nominations form and any other required materials.

• Nomination form (required)
• Candidate photo (required)
• 50-word statement (required)
• Manifesto (optional, but highly recommended)
• Plain-text manifesto (optional, but highly recommended)
• Candidate / campaign video (optional)
• Campaign social media links (optional)

As you can see from the checklist, there are some things you are required to do for your nomination to be valid, so it’s really important that you make a note of these and do them before the relevant deadlines. To make it simple for you to remember all the deadlines, we’ve created a downloadable timetable that has all the information you need.

To make sure you submit the required things the right way, please read the following carefully:

• Begin by completing the online nominations form. It’s available on qmsu.org/elections, and you’ll need your name, your student ID, your email address and your phone number. Once you’ve submitted your nominations form, you’ll get an email confirmation. If you do not receive an email notification shortly after submitting your nomination form, there may be a technical problem, so please contact su-elections@qmul.ac.uk to ensure your nomination has been registered.
• You must also submit a photo for your nomination to be valid. The photo should be of you (not your pet squirrel or a group of friends). Please make sure to submit the photo in high resolution. Photos saved from social media are usually not in high resolution, so if at all possible, please don’t submit photos saved from social media.
• It’s also a requirement to submit a short statement for your nomination to be valid. The statement can’t exceed 50 words. And no, you can’t just remove the spaces between all the words. We use MS Word to count the number of words, and if your statement exceeds 50 words (even if it’s 51), we’ll cut your statement after 50 words. The statement is your opportunity to tell students why they should vote for you. You may want to mention your key policies and ideas.
• You can also decide to submit a manifesto. The manifesto is a longer document (max. 1 A4 page) outlining your policies and ideas in more detail. Your manifesto can also include information about your relevant experience, achievements, skills, values or other information that you find relevant for your campaign. If you choose to design a manifesto that uses colours, photos, graphics or other design features, you are also required to submit a plain-text version (a plain word document with a standard black font that contains the exact same information as your designed manifesto). Without a plain-text version, we are unable to accept your manifesto. For more information on how to write a good manifesto, please check the manifesto page on the Candidates Hub.
• If you are planning to use social media profiles for your campaign, we recommend that you include these in your manifesto, so it’s easy for students to engage with your campaign. Simply include the links in the content of your manifesto (see manifesto requirements above). It’s up to you whether you want to use your existing profiles or create new ones for the purpose of the elections.
• Videos can be a great way to stand out from the crowd and get the attention of voters. If you plan to create a campaign video (or you are super-organised and have already created it), we recommend that you include a link in your manifesto. If your video isn’t ready yet, simply include a link to the platform you’ll host the video on (let’s say you’re planning to host your video on your Youtube profile, in that case you can include a link to your Youtube profile).

Have you still not made up your mind?

We know it can feel a bit daunting to nominate yourself, so we encourage you to reach out to the current Executive Officers and the Elections Team. The Elections Team are always happy to answer your questions and talk about the elections, so feel free to email us on su-elections@qmul.ac.uk or book a drop-in if you have a question or want to know more about the elections.

If you’re thinking about running in the elections, we suggest that you make a note of the key dates and deadlines. We want the elections to be fair for everyone, so we can’t make exceptions from the deadlines.

Running as a slate

You can choose to run in the elections as part of a ‘slate’ – this involves a group of candidates campaigning together under a common campaign name, which also appears on the ballot. If you are running as a slate, you will need to agree on a name with the other candidates and include this when submitting the nomination form. A slate cannot have more than one candidate for each position. If you are part of a slate, you may share publicity and campaign for each other, however, in the interest of fairness, the candidate budget is reduced for each additional person who is part of the slate. For more information about budgeting see the campaigning page. on the Candidates Hub.

We know some people need a little nudge, and that’s what Recommend a Friend is here for! Recommend a Friend allows you to encourage a friend to run in the elections. It’s completely anonymous, and it’s an excellent way to give someone a confidence boost!

(Recommend a Friend doesn’t nominate your friend automatically though – if you get recommended and you want to go for a role, you will still need to nominate yourself through the process outlined above!)