Your chance to elect a new leadership team for your society for the next academic year!
This is your opportunity to elect the next leaders of your society. All societies must participate in Society Committee Elections to ensure a democratic and fair process has been followed. Every society is led by a committee of students in the roles of Chair, Treasurer, Secretary & Inclusion Officer. These voluntary roles are great leadership opportunities for students at the Uni of Herts. Students must nominate themselves for the role they would like and then need to be voted in by the members of society
Key Dates
We run a few rounds of nominations each year to give you maximum opportunity to fill the roles! You can see the dates for this year's Society Committee Elections below...
Round 1
Nominations: Monday 3rd April - Monday 10th April
Voting: Monday 10th April - Monday 17th April
Round 2
Nominations: Monday 17th April – Monday 24th April
Voting: Monday 24th April – Monday 1st May
Round 3
Nominations: Monday 8th May – Monday 15th May
Voting: Monday 15th May – Monday 22nd May
What are the Society Committee Elections?
A society committee is made up of 4 essential roles (Chair, Treasurer, Secretary & Inclusion Officer). The students that wish to fulfil these positions must be elected in. Our annual Society Committee Elections are where this happens!
Every society must participate in the Society Committee Elections which is where their leadership team for the following academic year is determined. Society members are invited to run for the roles and then given the chance to vote for them. We've set everything up for you, you just have to make sure your society has nominees for each position and you encourage your members to vote. Societies that fail to elect a committee run the risk of becoming inactive the following academic year. Don't let this happen to your society!
Who can run for a role?
Society members that are continuing on with their studies here at Herts next year can put themselves forward for one of the available roles, with all society members being able to vote. Please note that you must be a current member of a society to run or vote in their elections
All students studying at the Uni of Herts, regardless of subject, campus, or anything else may run for the committee for any Society. This means that all your members, with the exception of non-student members, may stand for election to any position within the committee
You can only stand for one committee position per society. You can stand for up to three committee positions for three different societies (for example you cannot stand as Chair and Treasurer of the Cheese Society, but you can stand as Chair for the Cheese Society and Treasurer for the First Aid Society)
Why run for a role?
There are loads of benefits of being a Society Committee Member, like...
- • Being able to shape the direction of your society
- • Enhancing your employability
- • Opening yourself up to new opportunities
& more!
Society Committee Members are completely supported by our Student Development team, so you're not in it alone! You can expect comprehensive training, a detailed handbook and access to our committee toolkit
Find out more about the benefits of this leadership opportunity and the support you'll receive as a committee member here
What do the roles involve?
Depending on the society, some roles will only take up a couple of hours each week, though bigger societies may be up to 5 hours per week. However, this really does depend on the types of events you want to run and how active you want your society to be. Your society is what you make it!
Each position comes with different responsibilities. You can see the key tasks for each role below!
Chair
- • To support the rest of the Society Committee Members
- • To ensure the smooth running of the society
- • To ensure the constitution (the society's goals & aims) are followed
- • To bring your other committee members together
- • To approve society finances with the Treasurer
- • To ensure the society is run in a sustainable way
Secretary
- • To support the Chair and their workload if necessary
- • To write and share the minutes of each meeting
- • To contact members of society (via social media, chats, emails etc)
- • To book rooms or venues
- • To ensure the society is run in a sustainable way
Treasurer
- • To monitor your society's finances by tracking your spending and income
- • To ensure the society stays within budget
- • To ensure the rest of the committee is aware of the budgets
- • To approve the society's finances with the Chair
- • To ensure the society is run in a sustainable way and ensure society finance is utilised ethically
Inclusion Officer
- • To make sure all the society members are complying with the uni's equality and diversity
- • To be the welcoming contact to new members
- • To reduce any barriers to participation in society events
- • To ensure the society is run in a sustainable way
- • To keep an eye out for any students who might need additional support and give them guidance on where to access this
Some societies also have additional roles like an Events Planner or Social Media Officer. These additional roles will be displayed on their society webpage
How do I put myself forwards for a role?
Simply follow the steps below...
- • Make sure you're logged into our website
- • Head to your society page and scroll to the bottom
- • Click on the election
- • Locate the role you want to nominate yourself for and click nominate yourself
- • Input your information & upload a photo of yourself. Then click review your nomination
- • Add a manifesto if you wish to (your chance to explain why you're suitable for the role and why members should vote for you)
Make sure you nominate yourself for the role before the nomination period ends!