Bristol SU runs elections to give students the opportunity to vote for who they want to see representing them in the university, SU, the city and nationally.

There are two sets of elections each year, one in October and one in March. In our upcoming elections in TB2, we elect lots of roles, including Full-time Officers, Student Community Organisers, Faculty Reps, Course Reps, Student Trustees, Democratic Standards Committee (new for this year!) and the chair of Student Council. You can find information about all these roles above or head over to our Support page to find training sessions, resources and a link for a 1:1 call.

Stepping into an election's role is your chance to make a real impact on campus while gaining valuable experience that’ll stand out on your CV. From communication and public speaking to leadership, project management, and strategic planning, these roles help you develop skills for life. This is all while creating positive change in your student community.

We provide lots of training and support for all of our roles and there are a range of different roles to suit lots of different ambitions, personalities and availabilities. Whilst the Full-time Officer roles are salaried at £29,179, our Organisers and Reps are given honorariums of £1500 (taxable) for their work. This is so that where roles are more time consuming, students don’t have to choose between getting involved in change making and working more hours at their part-time job.

For course and faculty rep roles, you’ll need to run in our TB1 elections when the next academic year starts! However, if your course ends this year, you could run for a Full-time Officer position.

Staff at Bristol SU run the day-to-day organisation of elections. All Bristol SU elections are then overseen by a Returning Officer (a staff member or external expert) who makes sure that they are fair, transparent and successful. Our Returning Officer is the National Union of Students’ (NUS), and you can email bristolsu-elections@bristol.ac.uk at any time to ask the Returning Officer a question, voice a concern or report an unfair situation via our election complaints form.

A personal statement is an essential part of your nomination and it’s your chance to show voters who you are, why you’re the best person for the role, and what you stand for. Don’t forget to include a clear headshot too, so people can easily recognise you!

Your personal statement might vary depending on the role you’re running for:

• Full-Time Officers: Focus on detailed plans to tackle big issues affecting students across the university.
• Course Reps: Highlight why your cohort should vote for you and address specific challenges within your course.
• Faculty Reps: Think big and highlight how you can represent your cohort on a faculty level for this paid role.
• Student Community Organisers: Showcase your ability to connect, listen, and empower others.
• Student Trustee: Set out your vision for the long-term success of Bristol SU and demonstrate how you can take on the responsibility of being a charity trustee.
• Chair of Student Council: Demonstrate your understanding of democracy at the SU and your plans to make Student Council and Annual Members Meeting as engaging for students as possible.
• Democratic Standards Committee: Display your knowledge of the functions of the SU’s democracy and governance, you may even want to display how you are equipped to make good interpretations of the byelaws.

The manifesto word limit is 300 words, so you need to make sure it is succinct and captures what you want to say to voters!

If you’d like to find out more about writing a manifesto, we have Candidate Academy sessions to help. You can also book in to chat with our team, as well as access to a SharePoint with all the slides and information.

Running for a role in the elections is a great way to develop new skills and meet people!

Over the years, plenty of international students have stood in, and won, elections. However, it is your responsibility to check if you are eligible to work and volunteer the hours required as per your visa. If you require more details about your rights or what action to take, please contact the University of Bristol International Student Office.

Unless faculty specific and depending on where you are in your degree, any student can nominate themselves for the roles, and any student can cast a vote. We recommend looking at the job packs for each role or having a chat with a member of our team if you need help deciding what to run for!  

We don’t officially approve candidates until the nomination period is over – you can make any edits until then! You should receive an email once you’ve been officially approved, but in the meantime, we will send you an automated email with your next steps relevant for your role once you’ve nominated yourself. We will get in touch with you if there are any issues.

If you see a message that says you're ineligible to stand or vote for a particular position, please contact bristolsu-elections@bristol.ac.uk as soon as possible.

It's possible that you may not meet the requirements for that position or there may be a technical error. Please include your full name, University username and the specific position you would like to stand/vote for in your email.

Sometimes - it depends on the positions. You can find out more about what roles you can and can’t apply for.

We have lots of roles - if you are unsure, please email bristolsu-elections@bristol.ac.uk

Bristol SU is committed to being the voice for all students and a Union for all. We also understand that some communities face barriers and marginalisation and we want to ensure those students have access to spaces specifically for them. We also know that many students who don’t self-identify into these categories also really care about social justice issues. They want collaborate on campaigns that impact the experience of others and they want to be able to vote for their friends and peers who might be running for these roles.

Yes, the rules can be found on the Elections Rules Page - please read through them carefully. If you have any questions or would like a clarification, please ask the Returning Officer via bristolsu-elections@bristol.ac.uk and if you’d like to make a complaint about an elections breach, you can do that via this form

Sometimes - it depends on the positions. You can find out more about what roles you can and can’t apply for here. (link to the bottom half of the roles page with graphic).

In the context of elections, campaigning is what candidates do to get votes. For our course role, this tends to be more lowkey – we recommend chatting to people on your course to let them know you’re running. Course Rep candidates should not spend money on their campaign.

Faculty Rep, Student Community Organisers, Chair of Student Council, Democratic Standards Committee and Student Trustee candidates can be reimbursed for up to £30 for their campaigning. We recommend utilising social media and putting yourself out there in places your voters might be.

Full-time Officer candidates can spend up to £65 on their campaign. Because these roles are for a full-time job and every student can vote, the campaign tends to be on a bigger scale. The SU will provide paint and cardboard, as well as space to work on physical campaign materials. We’ve also got a candidate academy session on campaigning for more tips – you can find the details here!

Successful candidates take time to listen and speak to students, find out about the current issues relevant to the role they're standing for and persuade voters with ideas and enthusiasm. All campaigning activity needs to follow, our rules and authorised campaign expenditure will be reimbursed by Bristol SU.