Leeds Beckett Students’ Union is hosting one of the biggest democratic events of the year on campus in March, the Leadership Elections! If you haven’t gotten involved yet, this is your moment!  

The elections provide an opportunity for discussions around student issues and for you to elect your representatives for the 2025/26 academic year. They directly impact your university experience at Leeds Beckett and give you a chance to have your say! To ensure you are well-informed and ready to participate in the elections, please familiarise yourself with the following key details: 
 

What are the Leadership Elections? 

The elections allow students to choose their representatives for the next academic year, including 2 full-time Officers (Undergraduate Officer and Posgraduate Officer) and 8 voluntary School Officers. These roles will form the Union’s Student Executive Committee and represent their peers, fight for student rights, and help shape the future of the Students’ Union's activities and policies. The elections will take place on the 11th and 12th of March where you’ll be encouraged to speak to candidates on campus, read their manifestos, get involved in discussions about students issues and vote online. This year's list of candidates and candidate webpages will be live on our website week commencing 3 March here. 

Why is it important to participate? 

Leeds Beckett Students’ Union is run by students, for students, and it’s important that as many of you as possible make your voice heard and engage in selecting your student leaders. These elections determine the leadership of the Students' Union, which plays a significant role in enhancing the student experience, campaigning on issues that matter to students and ensuring that insight gathered through our Community Organising work is heard and considered at all levels in the University. Encouraging participation ensures that the elected representatives truly reflect the needs and priorities of the student body. 
 

Roles open for nominations 

As part of our new strategy, community organising is at the heart of everything we do. We work closely with students from different schools and different backgrounds to ensure that all students are fairly represented and that we have strong communities in place at Leeds Beckett. To facilitate the development of more student leaders across all our communities, the number of full-time Officers has been reduced from 4 to 2 in order to create 8 new part-time voluntary roles. Recent changes to the structure of these roles were voted on and approved at the Student Members’ Meeting on 10 December 2024. The roles open for nominations this year are as follows: 
 

Full-time roles: 

• Undergraduate Officer: Open only to undergraduate students, focusing on representing the undergraduate student voice within the University, locally and nationally. 

• Postgraduate Officer: Open only to postgraduate students, focusing on representing the postgraduate student voice within the University, locally and nationally. 
   

Voluntary roles: 

• School Officers: One voluntary position per school, open only to students within the respective school active within the SU*. These roles will form the Union’s Student Executive Committee alongside the full-time Officers and play an essential role in the Union’s decision-making processes, empowering student communities to campaign for the changes they want to see at Beckett. The School Officer role requires a small time commitment of around one hour per week. Further opportunities for participation may also be available throughout the academic year.
  
  *To be eligible to stand for election, students must have completed the training provided by the Students’ Union as either a Course Representative, a Student Community Organiser, a Community Leader or a Student Group Leader.

If you wish to learn more about the roles, you can read their job description here.
 

How can students nominate themselves? 

Students interested in running for a leadership position can submit their nomination via the Students' Union website before 3pm on Friday 14 February 2025. They will need to provide a brief manifesto outlining their skills and experience that makes them suitable for the roles, as well as how they intend to contribute to the Students’ Union priorities. 
 

When and how will voting take place? 

Voting will take place online from 9am on Tuesday 11 March and 5pm on Wednesday 12 March. Students will be able to access the voting platform through the Students' Union website. You can also vote in person at one of our three polling stations on campus (Entrance of Leslie Silver Building, next to the SU Welcome Desk in the Portland Building and at the entrance of Campus Central). Please note that: 

• School Officer elections are open only to students within their respective Schools, meaning you can only vote for a candidate within your School. Candidates should consider their target demographic when planning their campaigning activities.

• All students can vote in the Undergraduate Officer and Postgraduate Officer elections but we recommend that students only vote in the election that is linked to their study level. 

• To address issues experienced in previous elections, training and support will be provided for all candidates to help ensure campaign activity remains respectful and within acceptable boundaries. If you're struggling to vote or if you wish to raise a concern/complaint during voting week, please fill in this form before voting closes. 
   

What to expect during voting week 

While the voting and campaigning period has been shortened to two days to reduce stress for candidates, the process will remain largely familiar. Candidates will campaign online and on both campus from the moment voting opens at 9am on Tuesday 11 March until voting closes at 5pm on Wednesday 12 March. Some candidates will start campaigning online a few weeks before voting opens. From Monday 10 March, they will start distributing publicity materials like posters and flyers on campus. Voting will be conducted via our online elections platform on our website at www.leedsbeckettsu.co.uk/your-voice/elections. Candidates received trainings, and were told how to campaign in a positive and engaging way. A list of the rules given to this year's candidates can be dowloaded here. 

Results will be announced on Friday 14 March in The Hive at 4:30pm and then published on our website. 
 

What happens after the Leadership Elections? 

• Transition period: Between March and July this year, elected candidates may occasionally attend training sessions or meetings before officially taking office during the next academic year. 

• Commencement of roles: All successfully elected candidates will take office on 1st July 2025. Full-time Officers will begin their responsibilities immediately, while School Officers will primarily commence their roles at the start of the 2025/26 academic year in September 2025. 

• Training and induction: Over the summer break, there will be training and induction activities for all roles. Full-time Officers will complete these activities as part of their regular working hours, while School Officers will have an estimated time commitment of around 2 days during that period. 

What does the Student Executive Committee do?

The Student Executive Committee responsibilities include:

• Helping to facilitate and promote community organising within the Students' Union and the University. Read about our approach to community organising here.
• Actively engaging with our student communities in person and online to find out their views, opinions and concerns, and help them campaign for change.
• Representing student views to the University and other organisations in Leeds, including attendance at University meetings with senior members of our institution. 
• Attending, supporting the facilitation of, and actively promoting the Students' Union's Student Assemblies.
• Deciding on proposals to be put forward to our members at the Student Assemblies, based on insight from listening campaigns and proposals put forward from Student Communities. All students are a member of Leeds Beckett Students' Union and are invited to the assemblies.
• Where appropriate, making decisions in relation to urgent matters than cannot reasonably be delayed until a meeting of the Student Assembly.

Other ways to get involved with Leeds Beckett Students' Union

We have many opportunities for you to get involved with our activities throughout the year or to influence our decision making. We have part-time paid roles and low commitment voluntary roles available. Whether you want to support our Community Organising, Business Development, Finance and Marketing teams, work in our venues on campus or support our communities, keep an eye on our job's page. Our recruitment period is usually between April and June. 

If what you're looking for is a low commitment voluntary role, you can contact us to become a voluntary community leader within your student community. Another way to be part of change at Leeds Beckett is to get involved with the priority campaigns that we are leading on at LBSU, or to become a Course Rep and support the academic representation of your School.