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.

Nominate yourself here from 12pm, Monday 5 October.

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 Taught (PGT) Representation Chair represents all PGT students and works with the PGT AWOs as part of the Postgraduate Representation Committee to gather feedback and deliver this to Imperial and ICU.

Postgraduate Research (PGR) Representation Chair represents all PGR students and works with the PGR AWOs as part of the Postgraduate Representation Committee to gather feedback and deliver this to Imperial and ICU.

PGT Academic & Welfare Officers (AWOs) represent each faculty. They collect feedback from Department/Year Reps at PG level and work with the other AWOs and PGT Rep Chair. 

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.

Positions to be filled in these elections are:

• CGCU Sports Officer
• CGCU Vice President PGR
• CGCU Vice President PGT
• CGCU Guildsheet Editor x 2
• CGCU Clubs and Societies Officer
• CGCU Events Officers
• RSM Vice President PGT
• RSM Vice President PGR
• RCSU Events Officer
• RCSU Vice President PGR
• RCSU Biology Wellbeing Dept Rep
• RCSU Sports Officer
• RCSU Wellbeing and Events Officer

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

You can find more detailed information about each of those roles in the candidate handbook, coming soon.

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 handbook.

The 2026 Autumn Elections candidate handbook will be available soon.

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 page here 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