Frequently Asked Questions

All societies must have the core roles of President, Secretary and Treasurer filled to be active. Our High Risk societies have another core role of the Health and Safety Officer. Some societies have additional roles such as Vice President so have a look at what your society offers!

Speak to the existing committee to get an idea of what each role involves and what the required workload is. If you would prefer to speak to a member of staff, you can email activitiesadmin@shu.ac.uk

For a society to continue, all three core roles of President, Secretary and Treasurer must be filled. This means that in the main elections, students must have nominated and received votes for each of these positions. If this does not happen, the society will close and move into Adopt A Soc.

You can withdraw from the election online at any point. If you're struggling or want to withdraw after results have been announced, contact us at activitiesadmin@shu.ac.uk

If you're struggling to nominate yourself, it's really important you get in touch via activitiesadmin@shu.ac.uk before nominations close as we're unable to let you run for a role without nominating yourself.

The first thing we would suggest is looking at how you're promoting the role. Does it seem like more work than others? Do your members know the benefits of this role? Have you communicated the elections to all possible students eg. different levels of a course? If promoting isn't the issue, it's important to reflect on the role itself. If it's a core role, speak to us about how we can support you to sell it to your members. If it's an additional role, consider whether it's necessary for your society to have this role filled.

Every society is different so the best thing to do is to talk to your current committee members. As a requirement, all committee members must attend our annual Committee Training that we hold in September and October, as well as completing the annual Constitution and annual Risk Assessment. Beyond that, the amount of time your role will require will be depend on what time you and your committee have. Many of our students have part-time jobs alongside running societies!

All terms in post for society committee members last for one academic year from 1 August until 31 July. If you've been elected in a by-election, you will still need to re-run in the bulk election to be able to hold a post for the full term next academic year. Please note that you must be a current student in the academic year you wish to be a committee member.

The short answer is most likely yes! If you are currently an active member within the society, you're probably passionate about the society so you’re halfway there. Committee members help to arrange actives and events behind the scenes. We also have our annual Committee Training where you’ll receive training on everything committee related. If you're worried, talk to your current committee about what their roles entail.

That depends on your society and the roles you want to run for. Core roles (President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Health and Safety Officer) must be held by different students within the same society. Therefore, you can only nominate yourself for one core role in the same society. If the society has additional roles like a Social Secretary, you can run for as many of those as you like alongside a core role. But remember these roles have been created for a reason and fufil a need in your society, so one person taking on all the roles defeats the point of having a larger committee role list.

Yes! Just ensure that you have capacity to perform these roles well alongside your studies and any other personal or professional responsibilities.

Yes! As long as you are a current student - includes being on placement - you will be able to nominate yourself for a committee position and be appointed if winning the majority vote. We would recommend that before you nominate yourself, you consider if you will have time to manage all of your responsibilities in both your academic/professional and extra-curricular life!

Do you have a catchphrase, pledge or quotation you can use to stand out? These can be included in your manifesto and campaigning.

Make sure to consider what society members want going forward which includes their needs and interests.

Feel free to use social media and photos to enhance your visibility to other members.

Make sure to keep engaging with the society activities including events. Other society members are unlikely to vote for you if you rarely engage with them or society activities.

Not all standard members know that they can vote in a society election or how to do this online. Encouraging other members to participate in this democractic proccess is important!

Current committee members who are running for a committee role - this could be the same or a different one - cannot use special relationships or privileges that other students don't have to persuade students to vote for them. This mainly applies to communication channels where they have access to contact all members such as emailing through the society webpage, posting on the official society Instagram page, being a group chat administrator etc.