Democracy Review Update Jan 2026 | Imperial College Union

Progress So Far, What’s Next, and How You Can Get Involved.

At the end of the last academic year, Imperial College Union (ICU) completed a democracy review that assessed the effectiveness of our democratic structures and set out changes to help us to fulfil our mission to “positively transform the lives of every student at Imperial” through “effective advocacy and influence.” Over the summer, working groups translated those recommendations into actions, and we have begun to implement changes. This update summarises what we’ve achieved so far, what’s coming next, and how you can get involved.

The review identified seven priority areas for improvement:

Organisational transparency: Improve transparency in ICU decision making and sharing impact and strengthen opportunities for student input and feedback.
Officer structure: Strengthen officer effectiveness, visibility, and accountability.
Community organising : Embed a community organising approach to equip volunteers and reps to make meaningful change.
Union Council: Reform Union Council and committees to be more accessible, impactful, and reflective of student priorities.
Constituent Unions (CUs): Improve work with CUs to develop student leaders and ensure students are actively represented.
Liberation & Community: Adopt a ‘community first’ model to enable better community support and impact.
Governance: Simplify and modernise ICU governance.

Within each of these areas, recommendations for change were made to drive progress and improvement. If you’d like to understand more about each of the recommendations and the background behind them, you can read the review in full here.

Progress So Far

1. Organisational Transparency

1.1 Recommendation: Hold Annual General Meetings (AGMs)

Status: In progress
Our AGM will be held on Tuesday 2 February. More info to be shared here once confirmed: Annual General Meeting | Imperial College Union

1.2 Recommendation: Release finance reports and minutes of Finance, Audit and Risk (FAR) in a digestible, front-facing format, and a written termly commercial update will be provided to [Union] Council.

Status: In progress
Following our last FAR meeting, an update was shared on the website
A commercial update was shared with Union Council on 4th November 2025. Kat Iliopoulou (ICU Head of Commercial Services) also attended this Union Council meeting to present the paper and answer questions.

1.3 Deliver student experience and impact reports.

Status: In progress
A 2024/25 Impact Report will be shared at the AGM. It’s also available online here.
We will also be looking to understand how we can share more student experience reports and want to better understand what data would be particularly meaningful to you as students.

1.4 Create opportunities for student feedback and input.

Status: In progress
There are already many ways to share feedback with ICU. Our next step is to make this consistent across all student-facing services. We will proactively ask for feedback at key touchpoints, act on it, and share outcomes. Currently we are mapping all the routes we use to gather student feedback so we can adopt a single, transparent approach to collecting feedback centrally, responding in good time, and reporting back on what changes as a result. We want to see your input improving services, and we want accurate data to inform decisions.
How you can share feedback today:
- Through democratic structures and forums:
  - Officer Trustee Forums
  - Union Council
  - Your elected representatives
  - Activities Forum
  - Commercial Forum
- Services and events:
  - Post-event and training surveys
  - Advice service (including annual advice focus groups)
  - Helpdesk
  - Activities drop-ins
- Elections:
  - Candidate feedback/debriefs
- Institutional surveys:
  - Imperial student surveys
  - National Student Survey (NSS)
- Online:
  - Social media
  - Contact us page on our website
Watch this space for more central opportunities to submit feedback via our website, and for more regular updates that show what we heard, what we changed, and what’s next.
Reforms to how Union Council operates have also been undertaken which have created more opportunities for students to bring ideas and insight; we’ll keep strengthening these routes too.
If there’s a feedback route we’ve missed, or a new way you’d like us to gather input, please tell us. Your ideas will shape how we listen and act on your feedback.

1.5 Hold effectiveness reviews of Council/democratic structures.

Status: In progress
Following completion of the democracy review and its recommendations, an ICU working group made up of student leaders and staff will evaluate the impact of the changes implemented, with student insight and feedback central to this process. In the meantime, regular effectiveness reviews are taking place throughout the year to ensure progress remains on track and to identify and action any necessary improvements. A small group of ICU membership and governance staff meet bi-weekly to review progress, supported by insight and data from student leaders gathered through regular operational meetings.
ICU staff and the Council Chair assess the effectiveness of changes made to Council by gathering feedback from Council members. To date, this has included a feedback survey following training, issues raised informally through Any Other Business (AOB), and Council members reviewing decisions made by the Summer Working Group.
While this feedback has been valuable, it has been gathered on an ad hoc basis rather than regularly. Developing a more consistent approach to collecting Council member feedback is an area for improvement, and a survey will be issued following the next Council meeting as part of this work.
Once a final review of the effectiveness of changes to Council and democratic structures has been completed, the ICU staff team will implement any required operational changes. Any further proposed structural changes will be presented to Union Council (and the Students’ Union Trustee Board, as required) for approval. Following completion of this process, ICU will establish a formal plan to review its democratic effectiveness on a three-year cycle.

2. Officer Structure Reform

2.1 Recommendation: Change full time officer line management to Managing Director (MD).

Status: Completed ✔

2.2 Recommendation: Rename DPCS to Deputy President (Activities)

Status: Completed ✔

2.3 Recommendation: Do not elect a fifth Officer Trustee for AY 25-26

Status: Completed ✔
This recommendation has been actioned; we currently have a full-time Officer Trustee team of four.

2.4 Recommendation: Recruit a Postgraduate Coordinator (full-time staff role on a fixed-term basis)

Status: Completed ✔
We have appointed a Postgraduate Coordinator for this academic year to strengthen postgraduate engagement. Their remit includes coordinating postgraduate representation, building postgraduate communities, and improving communications and participation. Next, we will be developing a proposal for a permanent, funded position to meet this need.

2.5 Recommendation: Consider further the need for a fifth officer portfolio, and what this might look like.

Status: In progress
We will not elect a fifth Officer Trustee in the upcoming Leadership Elections for the 2026–27 academic year as we have not yet had sufficient time to evaluate whether a fifth portfolio is needed. We will provide an update before the end of this academic year and set out the next steps. If the evaluation shows a clear need, we may run a late election cycle but we are not pre‑committing to this until the case is established.
Responsibilities previously held by the fifth officer have been redistributed among the existing Officer Trustees. We have also introduced additional engagement points, such as the Commercial Forum, to provide more connection with students with regards to this remit.
Several Democracy Review recommendations also support this work, including increased organisational transparency. For example, we are sharing regular updates from the Finance, Audit & Risk Committee, and we have a termly commercial update in Union Council.

2.6 Recommendation: Set up a termly student forum for student-led events and commercial activity

Status: In progress
We ran our first Commercial Services Advisory Group on the 4th of December, with 4 students attending. In order to ensure that more students engage with this, we have made the event accessible to all students, not just to those of you who signed up, so feel free to join us for our next meeting on the 23rd of February. In this meeting, you can expect an update on our catering provision and outend of year events schedule
All students are welcome to attend; If there’s something you think should be on the agenda, you can suggest a topic via emailing us on icu.venues@imperial.ac.uk.

2.7 Recommendation: Reform Officer accountability mechanisms

Status: Completed ✔
A revised Officer accountability process has been introduced at Union Council. This approach incorporates small-group questioning and discussion, enabling Officers to present their work, receive constructive and positive feedback, and respond to targeted questions at each meeting. The new format strengthens accountability while encouraging meaningful dialogue and reflection on performance. We will continue to collect data on the effectiveness of this approach in holding officers to account and make any modifications as necessary.

3. Community Organising

3.1 Recommendation: Introduce a funding pot for volunteers to use to deliver community organising initiatives and events.

Status: In progress
The criteria and process for applying for, approving, and distributing the fund is currently being developed, with the intention of being open by Term 3.

3.2 Recommendation: Deliver community organising training for all relevant student reps and volunteers.

Status: In progress
At the start of the year, our rep training included core elements of community organising such as campaign mapping and identifying how to make change happen. Over the remainder of this year, we will deliver more focused community organising sessions and set up a standard training offer for 2026/27 student volunteers.
In January 2026, members of our staff team will attend training run by Citizens UK. They will use this to co‑design our training offer for reps and volunteers tailored to ICU.

4. Council and Committee Reform

4.1 Recommendation: Replace existing committees and fora with four committees:

Activities committee (replaces CSPB)
Academic committee
Constituent Union Presidents committee
Liberation and Wellbeing committee

Status: Completed ✔
The Summer working group established a number of decisions regarding Union Council sub-committees. Names for each space have now been established – Activities Forum; Education Forum; Presidents Forum; and Liberation and Wellbeing Forum. The group also formalised the purpose of each forum, how students can engage with them, and how forum discussions develop into Union Council papers, Union campaigns or policies.

4.2 Recommendation: Create an online form for students to submit ideas to ICU

Status: In progress
The platform is currently in development, with the ‘Suggestions’ feature expected to launch by February. This will enable students to submit ideas about their student experience, which will either be shared directly with relevant teams or, where appropriate, referred to a relevant committee for development. Policy suggestions will be workshopped, developed into formal proposals, and then voted on by the committee or by Council.

4.3 Recommendation: Establish a Democracy working group

Status: Completed ✔
A triage group has been established to moderate suggestions that are submitted via ICU’s new Suggestions platform and ensure they progress through the most appropriate space. The group consists of one Officer Trustee, the Union Council Chair, the Democracy & Campaigns Coordinator, and Representation Manager.

4.4 Recommendation: Develop a communication plan for Council and its sub-committees.

Status: Completed ✔
A communication plan has been developed to increase awareness of, and participation in, Council and its forums across Imperial College Union, and to strengthen engagement between Council members and the wider Union membership. The plan is complete and is in the process of being implemented.

Actions delivered to date include improvements to the Union Council webpage, such as clearer information about Council’s role, publication of meeting dates and papers, and the introduction of frequently asked questions. Further elements of the plan, including resources such as a policy-making flowchart, are being finalised.

Alongside this, internal communication between Council members has been strengthened through the introduction of a Council WhatsApp community, providing a space for ongoing discussion and engagement. A new “Day in the Life of a Council Member” initiative has also been launched, where Council members take over Imperial College Union social media channels to showcase their role and demonstrate how Council represents students.

5. Constituent Unions

5.1 Recommendation: Co-develop partnership agreements between ICU and CUs

Status: In progress
Partnership agreements have been co-developed by ICU and CUs to support stronger partnership working and well-defined expectations for all parties. A paper outlining these agreements has been prepared and will be presented to Union Council for note later this term.

5.2 Recommendation: Create and implement a CU officer development programme

Status: In progress
A pilot version of the programme was delivered in September. ICU staff have since worked with CU Presidents to gather feedback, which is being used to refine and develop the programme ahead of its full delivery in June.

5.3 Recommendation: Ensure CUs actively represent and cater for PG students

Status: In progress
Proposals are currently being developed, with input from CU Presidents, and key Academic and Welfare Officers to be ready to go to a Union Council during Term 2.

5.4 Recommendation: Introduce ICU-led faculty level representation and community-building between ICU and the Business School.

Status: Completed ✔
In collaboration with the Business School, we have established a clear way forward which established the Dean’s Student Advisory Council as a Constituent Faculty Union and ensures this has effective links and ties into Union Council. This has been approved at Union Council.

6. Liberation and Community

6.1 Recommendation: Elect the Liberation and Community Network (LCNs) before the officer (LCO).

Status: Completed ✔
Elections have been changed to reflect this recommendation.

6.2 Recommendation: Enable substitution of representation.

Status: Completed ✔
This recommendation introduced the provision for alternative representation when the LCO delegate is unable to attend Union or University meetings. Other network members are now able to attend in their place, ensuring continuity of representation.

6.4 Recommendation: Clarify the eligibility and accountability of the networks.

Status: Completed ✔
Liberation & Community Networks will now report into, and be held accountable, by the Liberation & Wellbeing forum.

7. Governance

7.1 Recommendation: Clarify the rights of associate members.

Status: In progress
A comprehensive review of membership categories is being undertaken to clarify the rights and entitlements of associate members. This work involves assessing best practice across the wider sector and carefully considering the appropriate democratic rights for each membership category. The aim is to clearly define and communicate these rights, ensuring current student members receive the full benefits aligned with the Union’s objectives, while also recognising and enabling the value of our wider network of associate members.

7.2 Recommendation: Modernise the Union byelaws.

Status: In progress
We are updating the Union’s byelaws in parallel with wider governance changes. Once the recommendations has been implemented, we will undertake a comprehensive review of all byelaws to ensure they are accurate and written in clear, plain English. This review will also remove any outdated terminology, reduce duplication, and align the byelaws with current practice and regulatory requirements.
If possible, we’d like to involve students in this work through a structured project (e.g., as an editing project or for an editorial group to read and give feedback) focused on clarity and usability. Keep an eye out for further details in the future if you would like to participate in this kind of work.

7.3 Recommendation: Simplify the election processes and cease the operation Summer Elections (for leadership positions only).

Status: In progress and completed ✔
Changes have now been made to the elections cycle and the summer elections only elect student group committee positions rather than leadership positions.
To make our elections more accessible and to increase engagement, we will continue to review election materials and messaging to ensure they are succinct, accessible, and in clear language.

How We’ll Know We’re Making Progress & How You Can Be Part of It

As we continue to move all actions forward, we won’t treat this as a tick-box exercise. Throughout, we will evaluate what’s working, actively seek and respond to student feedback, and publish what changes as a result.

To understand whether we’re making real progress, we’ll monitor:

Leadership elections participation (e.g. turnout, candidate diversity)
Attendance and engagement at meetings and events (e.g. Union Council, forums)
Ideas and feedback submitted, and how many are acted upon with clear updates shared with you
Publication of accessible updates and students’ reported awareness and understanding
Improvements in representation across committees and roles
Uptake of funding, training, and development opportunities

We’ll continue to share updates with you so you can see the impact.

Want to help shape this work?

Share feedback via this feedback form.

Come along to an in-person event to share your feedback, there are lots of opportunities! For more details of upcoming events, check out our website.

Coming up, you’ll find your Officer Trustee forum events which are open for any student to attend and share their experience.

If you’d like to understand more about how your Students’ Union works and how you might get involved, then come along to our AGM on Monday 2 February where you can further understand what it means to be a member of ICU.

Our Leadership Elections are also coming up and a great way to be a BIG part of student democracy! You can find out all about the elections on the website here. We’ll be electing our Officer Trustees, Council Chair and Student Trustees, Liberation & Community Network (LCN) positions, plus various Undergraduate & Wellbeing Departmental Reps for each College department. There are also opportunities to be involved in leading your Constituent Union and student groups. So, if you’d like to get involved in student leadership, now’s your chance!

The post of Felix Editor for 2026/27 will be going live in the next couple of months. Apply and be next year’s editor, work for the Students’ Union and write for your student newspaper!

Our next commercial forum is on the 23rd of February so you can come along to share your feedback and ideas and input into making our commercial activity student inspired.

As your Students’ Union, we want every Imperial student to have a transformational experience. By working to continuously improve ICU’s democracy, we hope to make it more accessible, transparent, and impactful, so we can make sure your voices are heard, and acted upon. Your involvement is essential so keep sharing feedback and we’ll keep listening, acting, and reporting back.