The Autumn Elections are the first chance of the year for all students at Imperial to take up key leadership roles and work with various university staff and fellow students to make tangible impacts to the student experience and ensure the student voice is heard at the highest level of decision-making.

A core goal of Imperial College Union is to support students to be able to effectively influence and advocate for all, by having the resources to support and enhance the wellbeing of students and change the world around them - starting with the student experience.

The Autumn Bye-Elections will be taking place from 12pm, Monday, 2 November, for all positions unfilled from the Autumn Elections.

Roles available in the Autumn Bye-Elections

• Representatives to Council: PG Medicine x 2 and UG Medicine x 1
• Liberations and Community Network Members: Black and Minority Ethnic x 2, Interfaith x 2, Mental Health x 3
• Postgraduate Reps: PGR AWO Business x 1, CGCU VP PGR x 1, RSMU VP PGT x 1, RCSU VP PGT x 1
• Multiple vacancies in Aero, Civ. Eng., Elec. Eng., Chemistry, and Maths, plus some vacancies in other departments
• Other Constituent Union roles: RCSU Sports Officer x 1

Representatives to Council speak on behalf of their fellow undergraduates or postgraduates in their faculty at Union Council. These roles exist to ensure that every faculty and study type has at least one dedicated representative on Union Council to air their views.

Departmental and Year Representatives
Academic Representatives speak up for students on education issues such as assessments, feedback and learning resources. There's a Representative for every year group for both UGs and PGs. 

Wellbeing Representatives campaign and lobby on issues affecting students' lives, such as stress, finances, relationships and health. There's a Representative for every year group for UGs.

Postgraduate Academic and Welfare Officers – representing postgraduate students in the Business School.

Postgraduate Officers – representing postgraduate students across the Faculty of Medicine.

Vice Presidents Postgraduate - representing postgraduate students across the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences.

Postgraduate Representation Chairs – represent all postgraduate students and lead the postgraduate representation structure.

Liberation & Community Network Members are responsible for organising campaigns, building a community and fostering the wellbeing with our ten Liberation & Community Networks.

Constituent Union Committees organise social events and campaigns within their communities, as well as maintain Imperial's traditions and mascots.

Club and Society Committees ensure their activities are managed in the interest of members.

You can find more details on our Representation Training page.

Imperial College Union's elections are governed by rules that ensure fairness and accessibility while rewarding energy and enthusiasm. By nominating yourself for a role, you agree that you have read and understood all of the relevant rules and policies.

Rules and regulations, as well as more detailed information on all available roles in these elections, are stated within the candidate pack.

Whether you’re here for a year or a longer period, all postgraduates are encouraged to better the student experience by taking up a representation role.

You could stand to represent your department, faculty or study group, as well as community groups on campus in these elections.

Specifically for postgraduates, you could be a lead representative for all PGR or PGT students and work alongside senior university staff and students as the PGT/PGT Rep Chair, or you could represent the academic and welfare interests of PG students as an Academic or Welfare Officer for your faculty.

Find out more about all available roles here.

1. You must be a current student enrolled on a programme at Imperial College London for the full academic year.
2. You must meet the eligibility of specific roles, for example, you can only be a Department Rep for the department you study in, or part of your club or society committee if you are a member.
3. You must not have received or be under current investigation for any Imperial College Union (ICU) or Imperial disciplinary action that results in you contravening ICU policy.
4. ICU will check that candidates are eligible to run with Imperial prior to the start of campaigning.
5. If you fail to meet the above requirements you shall be withdrawn from the election.

The Autumn Elections 2026 are governed by a Returning Officer who is responsible for ensuring the elections are free and fair. The Returning Officer will make the final and binding decision on any rule breaches or complex queries raised by candidates and members. The Returning Officer for these elections is Tom Newman.

The Returning Officer appoints a Deputy Returning Officer, a member of Imperial College Union staff, to operate the elections on a day-to-day basis, answer queries from candidates and voters, and make rulings on complaints and rule breaches. The Deputy Returning Officer for these elections is Cat Turhan.

You can contact the Returning and Deputy Returning Officers via email at elections@imperial.ac.uk

If for any reason you feel the election has been run unfairly, you can submit a complaint using our complaints form.

Campaigning resources will be added here closer to the start of elections for candidates to use on all official campaigning materials.

We offer comprehensive training for student representatives, with tailored programmes for undergraduate and postgraduate Academic and Wellbeing Reps per faculty, and Council Representatives.

We ask that all Reps attend training in order to understand their position in the larger network of Reps, learn about ICU processes, meet their fellow Reps, and learn how to be successful in their role.

Please check out the Representation Training page  for dates.

Training for Council Representatives is compulsory.

Got a question about the Autumn Elections? Our Elections team will be happy to help!

Get in touch at elections@imperial.ac.uk