For the 2025 Elections of Sabbatical Officers and College Officers, an online vote will take place between 3 and 5 March 2026. Results of this year’s Elections will be announced on 6 April 2026.

Please note there is a mandatory meeting for all election candidates on Monday 19 January 2026 at 5pm. This meeting will take place via Zoom and all candidates are required to attend.

All members of UCD Students’ Union are eligible to participate in elections, but specific rules apply depending on the position:

1. Graduate Officer – Sabbatical Position

• Who can run: Only students enrolled in postgraduate, higher diploma, or graduate diploma programmes.
  
  

• Who can nominate: Only students in these same programmes, and final-year undergraduate students may nominate a candidate for this role.
  
  

• Who can vote: All students in the above programmes and final-year undergraduate students completing their degree in the same academic year.
  
  

2. College Officers – Executive Positions

• Who can run: Only students enrolled in the relevant College.

• Who can nominate: Only students within the same College.

• Who can vote: Students of the same College.
  
  

3. All Other Sabbatical Officer Positions

• Who can run, nominate, and vote: Open to all members of UCD Students’ Union, pending candidate approval by the Union Returning Officer. 

We offer a series of workshops before voting day to help you understand the roles, responsibilities, and effective campaign strategies. You are welcome to attend one or all of these sessions.

You can also speak with current officers for advice or guidance, and they are happy to answer questions and share their experience (contact details are available on the SU website).

Sabbatical Officer roles are full-time positions, so you may need to arrange time away from your course. Students in the middle of multi-year programmes (e.g., 2nd or 3rd year) should consider discussing a leave of absence with their student advisor if elected.

College Officer roles are part-time positions, allowing you to continue your studies while serving in the role.

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/College Officers: Various College Officers (e.g. Engineering, Arts & Humanities, Law, etc.) and Oifigeach na Gaeilge.

A Sabbatical Officer, or “Sabbat,” is a full-time, paid position elected by UCD students each year. Sabbatical Officers are responsible for the day-to-day running of the Union and for representing students, in accordance with the UCDSU Constitution.

A College Officer represents students in a specific College. They attend College Council, Union Council, and Executive meetings, and carry out Union duties alongside their studies. College Officers are elected on a part-time basis.

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.