For the 2025 Elections of Sabbatical Officers and College Officers, an online vote will take place on 1, 2 & 3 April 2025. Results of this year’s Elections will be announced on 4 April 2025.

The elections for the positions on the Campaigns and Entertainment Forums are to be held on the 7 April 2025 at UCDSU Council.

Please note there is a mandatory meeting for all election candidates on Monday 3 March 2025 at 5pm. This meeting will take place via Zoom and all candidates are obligated to attend.

In short, if you are a member of UCD Students’ Union you will be eligible to vote or run in some or all of the elections.

There are some limitations that we will advise below:

1. Graduate Officer - Sabbatical Position

Nominations for this position are limited to current postgraduate, higher diploma or graduate diploma members only. All students in the above programmes and the final year of their undergraduate degree programme are entitled to vote in this election, or nominate a person for this election.

2. College Officers - Executive Position

Nominations for these positions are limited to members who are undertaking a programme associated with a particular College. Your nominations must come from members within the College for which you are running. You can only vote and be nominated in a College of which you are a member. All students undertaking a degree programme are entitled to vote in the election associated with their primary College.

3. Campaigns Forum and Entertainment Forum

There are no limitations on who can run for any of the Campaigns or Entertainment Forum positions. These positions are open to all members of UCD Students’ Union.

Voting for the positions of the Campaigns and Entertainment Forum will be limited to members of UCD Students’ Union Council only.

4. All Other Sabbatical Officer Positions

There are no limitations on who can run or vote in any of the remaining positions. These are open to all members of UCD Students’ Union.

You can attend one or all of the various workshops that we are hosting in the lead up to voting day. This will help to gain a better understanding of the positions in the Union and how to campaign.

If you are thinking of running you can also reach out to any of the current team, they are more than happy to talk to through any questions you may have you can find their details HERE.

As a Sabbatical position is a full time roll you will need to take time off. If you are in the middle of a course such as 2nd or 3rd year which is not final year, you also should think about taking a leave of absence from your course. This can be discussed with your student advisor. Details of the Leave of Absence Policy can be found HERE.

The college officer role is part time so you can still do your course and run for this position.

Nomination forms are available HERE to download and print.

Nominations for all elections will open from 9am on Monday the 10th February 2025.

Nominations will close at 3pm on Friday the 28th February 2025 for all Sabbatical and College Officer roles.

Nominations for the Campaigns and Entertainments Forum positions will close at 3pm on the 27th of March 2025.

Nominees should submit to the Union Returning Officer a completed nomination form signed by the relevant number of Union members before that time. Nominations may also be left in the appropriate locked ballot box in the Union Helpdesk Office in the Student Centre or scanned and emailed to returningoffice@ucdsu.ie.

An online nomination form can be made available in special circumstances for nominees who wish to collect signatures virtually.

Please contact the Returning Officer directly if you wish to avail of online nomination form.

When obtaining nominations it is important to remember that (i) no person shall be elected or nominated as a candidate for a position of College Officer in respect of a College of which they are not a member; (ii) candidates for the position of College Officer shall be nominated solely by members of the Union from their respective College; and (iii) the position of Graduate Officer may only be contested by members undertaking a recognised postgraduate degree, higher diploma or graduate diploma of the University.

The number of nominations required per position varies. Please note that:

• Executive roles require 150 nominations;

• All other positions require 10 nominations.

UCD Students' Union is a democratic, member-led organisation, led by students, for the students.

Full Time/Sabbatical Roles

• President

• Welfare Officer

• Graduate Officer

• Entertainment Officer

• Education Officer

• Campaigns and Engagement Officer

Part Time Roles/College Officers

• Agricultural Science, Food Science & Vet College Officer

• Architecture College Officer

• Engineering College Officer

• Arts & Humanities College Officer

• Smurfit College Officer

• Quinn College Officer

• Health Sciences College Officer

• Law College Officer

• Science College Officer

• Social Sciences College Officer

• Oifigeach na Gaeilge/Irish Language Oficer

Campaigns Forum

• Gender Equality

• Environmental

• Mature Student

• LGBTQ+

• Disability Rights

• International Students

• Diversity and Inclusion

• Mental Health

Entertainment Forum

• Production Officer

• Promotions Officer

• Non-Alcoholic Officer

• Raise And Give (RAG) Committee Officer

• Entertainments Rep Coordinator

A Sabbatical Officer or “Sabbat” is a full-time paid role, elected by the students of UCD every year. They are tasked with the day to day running of the Union as set out by the UCDSU Constitution.

To learn more about the role of a Sabbat click HERE

A College Officer is the Students’ Union representative from an individual college in UCD. There are currently six colleges in UCD and eight College Officers, including an Irish Language Officer. The primary duties of a College Officer are to hold College Council and attend Union Council and Executive. Successful candidates are elected on a part-time basis that they fulfil alongside their studies.

To learn more about the role of a College Officer click HERE

A Manifesto is a series of commitments by a candidate to perform certain tasks if elected to a Union role.

Husting are a set event each year organised in conjunction with the Returning Officer, Students’ Union & Campus Newspapers to offer potential candidates the ability to address students and take questions from the public.

There are six full-time paid sabbatical positions up for election each year. These are the President, Campaigns & Engagement, Welfare, Education, Graduate & Entertainments Officers.

Firstly congratulations on your election! The Students’ Union should be in contact with you very soon about organising a handover for yourself from your predecessors. Handover for full-time officers will take place between 1-15th of June. For part-time officers, it will take place on an adhoc basis depending on peoples availability over the summer.

If you would like to query anything to do with the elections, you can reach out to our Returning Officer Darryl Horan at returningoffice@ucdsu.ie

The Union Executive is the day to day decision-body of UCD Students’ Union. It meets on a fortnightly basis and is allowed to make decisions on union affairs between meetings of Union Council.