FAQs

Students’ Union Elections are run throughout the year so students can decide who represents them. Elected reps represent students, create change, lead the Students’ Union and run campaigns, events and projects of their choice that help to improve students’ lives. Students who are elected in this election will take up their roles immediately for the 2025-26 academic year. With roles covering lots of different areas there is something for everyone!

Even if you don’t want to run for a role, you can still take part by voting.

The Elections are a great experience. Whether you’re successful in being elected or not you’ll develop new skills, have a great experience on your CV for placement applications and hopefully meet some new people along the way. We offer all candidates and elected reps helpful training and support throughout the journey.

If elected you’ll be part of the team of elected students that lead the Students’ Union, get the chance to be involved in campaigns and projects and work with lots of other people in the University and Students’ Union to create change at Queen Mary. It really is a one of a kind opportunity!

It’s also your opportunity for you to make a difference to students’ lives by improving their university experience.

No, not at all! The most important thing is that you are passionate about being the voice for the students you represent. You don’t need 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.

All Queen Mary students! While some of the roles are earmarked for certain groups (for example, you must be a postgrad student to run for the Postgrad Rep role), many of the roles are open to all students.

Firstly, being an elected rep really is a great experience. We hear from lots of past reps that they wish they could do it all over again, or that the skills they gained from the role really helped them to get to where they are today.

Some other benefits;

Make a difference

By representing students you’ll make a difference to their experience and help to make Queen Mary better for everyone!

Transferable employability skills

You'll be able to develop and gain new skills in the role, all roles will provide great examples of skills for your CV! You'll also build your confidence!

Improve your self-confidence

You'd be able to talk to dozens of students and become an expert on students’ views. You can have a chance at presenting your views and opinions and raising them in what can sometimes be a formal environment which is a great achievement.

Develop your networks and meet new people

You will meet new and interesting people and work with different people from our diverse community of students, student reps and staff. You'll also get to work with other students, officers like you and universities from up and down the country.

Some officers will also get the chance to work with leaders in the University and Students' Union, giving you experience of leadership, working with others, networking and a real insight into what it takes to run an organisation.

A long list of acheivements

When it’s all over you’ll get to look back at everything you achieved, the changes you made and the campaigns and projects you created. You’ll be able to use these as examples in future placement & job applications and interviews.

Access great benefits

Elected reps get access to training, dedicated staff support, job references, merch and perks.

Everything that you’ve seen the Students’ Union do this year and in the past has had an elected rep behind it. We can’t list everything the reps have achieved this year, but here are some examples:

• Lobbied the university to provide more financial support for students during the cost-of-living crisis
• Launched surveys on faith spaces, students who work and assessments in medicine
• Planned and deliver our liberation campaigns, including Black History Month, Cultural Unity Week Disability History Month and Islamic Heritage Month
• Collected data about curriculum changes in medicine and used this data to lobby for change
View our wins so far

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 secret compliment.

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.

If you’ve looked through all our online information and you’re still not sure about nominating yourself for a position we still have other ways we can help you.

Book in a 1-2-1 chat

The Elections Team is here to answer your questions and help you to figure out which role would be a perfect fit for you. You can book a session by completing a short online form on MS Bookings.

Talk to your friends & family

Talk to your friends, family and course mates about the opportunity and see what they think. You could also talk about your manifesto and campaign ideas with them and see what they think.

Contact us

You can also email us on su-elections@qmul.ac.uk or message us via our Students’ Union social media pages – links to these are at the bottom of the webpage.