How to apply

Whether you're still thinking about running or if you've already made the decision to run, this page will tell you everything you need to know about the nominations process.

The Students’ Union is a democratic membership organisation, and our elections are a way for all our members to elect the next student leaders of the Students’ Union. And not only that, you can also put yourself forward to be one of those leaders. To put yourself forward for a role, you must submit a nomination by the deadline, and this page will tell you everything you need to know to submit your nomination.

The essentials

To run in the elections, you must submit an online nomination through the Students’ Union website.

The nominations deadline is 2 March at noon (UK time). We’re unable to accept late nominations, so make sue to submit your nomination before the deadline.

When you submit your online nominations form, you must include your candidate photo (a photo of yourself) and a 50-word statement. Without these, your nomination will not be valid.

It’s optional to submit a manifesto, but it’s a great way to convince voters why they should vote for you, so we highly recommend that you submit a manifesto.

When and where do I submit my nomination?

The nominations period begins on 9 February at noon (UK time) and ends on 2 March at noon (UK time). We’re unable to accept late nominations, so make sure to get your nomination in as early as possible.

You must submit your nomination online through the nominations portal on the Students’ Union website. To submit a nomination, you must be logged into the website.

Apply now
What do you need to include in your nomination?

Let’s begin with a checklist for your nomination:

  • 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.

Download timetable
Submitting your nomination

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. 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.
  • 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. If your manifesto includes colours, photos, graphics or other design features, you are also required to submit a plain-text version. Without a plain-text version, we are unable to accept your manifesto.
  • If you are planning to use social media profiles for your campaign, we recommend that you include these in your manifesto.
  • Videos can be a great way to stand out from the crowd. If your video isn’t ready yet, simply include a link to the platform you’ll host it on.
I’ve run into a technical problem. What should I do?

If you experience a technical issue with your nomination, please contact us immediately on su-elections@qmul.ac.uk. We’re unable to accept late nominations, so it’s important that you contact us as soon as you become aware of the issue.

If possible, please take a screenshot or note down any error messages you receive, as this will help us to identify and resolve the issue.

Get ready to apply.

Applications open 9 February at 12pm

Got a question? Email us at su-elections@qmul.ac.uk