Senate Standing Committee elections

Role

Three positions on each of Senate's three Standing Committees are allocated to elected members of Senate. The three elected member positions are nominally assigned to each College, and are in place to represent the wider elected membership of Senate. 

Positions available

The number of positions and categories available for nomination are below. Nominees cannot seek membership of more than one Committee.

Terms of Office

Members serve for one academic year and the terms of office for 2025/2026 are 1 August 2025 - 31 July 2026. Members can subsequently seek re-election to the relevant Committee (in line with the arrangements agreed by Senate) for up to two further sessions (a total of three sessions). 

Eligibility

Current elected academic staff members of Senate plus the Senate Assessors and the Academic Staff Member of Court will have the opportunity to nominate themselves for membership of one of the three Senate Standing Committees. Nominees cannot seek membership of more than one Committee.

Should a member cease to be a member of Senate prior to or during their representation on a Standing Committee, their membership on the relevant Committee will cease with immediate effect. 

Staff who hold an ex officio appointment to Senate are not eligible to stand for election to a Senate Standing Committee, with the exception of Senate Assessors and the Academic Staff Member on Court. Ex officio members unable to stand for election include Heads of School, Heads of College, the Provost, Vice Principals and Assistant Principals. A full list of ex officio roles is available at Senate Membership.

Key dates

Elections to Senate Standing Committees are held on an annual basis. 

Nomination process

Eligible members of Senate can nominate nominate themselves for election to a Senate standing committee, and nominations can be submitted via this online nomination form. 

The form will ask nominees to include a short written statement supporting their nomination to the selected Senate standing committee. This statement will be made available to the electorate where voting is required. 

Election process

In the event that the number of eligible nominations for a Committee exceeds the three available places, an election will determine which nominees are assigned to the membership of the Committee. 

Should an election be required, the election would be conducted by means of the Single Transferrable Vote, Weighted Inclusive Gregory Method (STV WIGM). For each Committee, the three candidates with the greatest share of the vote would automatically be elected to the relevant Committee. In the event of a tie, the successful candidate or candidates would be determined by the drawing of lots. 

Voting would be conducted online, and the counting of votes would be conducted using an electronic counting system facilitated by Civica Election Services (formerly Electoral Reform Services).

In the event that the number of eligible nominees for a Committee does not exceed the three available places each nominee will be assigned to the membership of the Committee. 

If vacancies remain following each College being assigned a position, any remaining positions will be allocated to interested nominees.

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Contact

For further information or if you have any specific questions, please contact the Senate Support team at SenateSupport@ed.ac.uk