Why Join?

If you’re interested in making a difference for disabled students and you self-identify as a disabled or dyslexic student, we want you to join us and make the learning, social and overall experience of disabled students better!

Don’t worry if you’ve never been on a committee before, we’ll support you the whole way and the SU provides training and support. We’re completely remote and flexible. We’re all students, just like you taking a bit of time out of our week to make things better.

We're completely remote and flexible (we know it's hard sometimes) and we work together!

Who's on Committee now?
It's Luke Nash (our Co-chair) and Lauren Flynn (our Co-Campaigns & Inclusions Officer).

How it works

You'll make an application where you'll give your name and up to 3 positions you'd like to apply for - you have to be elected to a position, elected by disabled and dyslexic students. You can optionally write a statement or submit a video (although we recommend you do one of these), which sets out what why people should elect you to your position. More advice on this will be released when applications open.

You can see the positions available at ==the positions page.==

We use the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system which takes into account preferences of voters. We also use this if you win multiple positions to eliminate you from your lower preference positions. You can't hold more than one position (except with the Inclusions Officer) on the Committee.

You must be a University of Sheffield student to apply, using your university email (ending @sheffield.ac.uk), who self-identifies as disabled and/or dyslexic.

Access and help with making applications

We can help if you need help making an application or need anything to help you do this. If you would like a paper copy of the application form or need any other advice/help, please email us at [email protected] or you can contact us via Facebook or Instagram.

When you apply, you can optionally write an statement or record a video (although it's recommended you do) - here are some questions to think about to help you:

Why would you be good for the role?What skills, experience and expertise do you have?How are you going to juggle the committee role and your studies?How will you work with the other committee members to achieve your role?Do you have anything you want to achieve in the year?
Your statement/video should be up to 250 words or about 3 minutes long. This is not a hard rule and we'll accept statements and video of any size - but it's more effective if it's around this length.

Schedule for EGM positions

Schedule for Amendments

Returning Officers & concerns about decisions

Our two committee members - Luke Nash and Lauren Lynn - are the Returning and Counting Officers for the EGM.

If you have any concerns or questions about the conduct of the EGM and the way it operates - you can email us at [email protected].

If one of us makes a decision you're not happy with you can, in the first instance, appeal the decision to the other, or failing that, you can email the Women's Officer at [email protected].

Positions available

We're looking for the following positions! There's one more place left for the Co-chair position where you'll be working with Luke, and if you go for the Co-Campaigns Officer position you'll be working with Lauren.

All positions can be held as a jobshare - this is where you split the responsibilities and workload between two or more of you. You'll be able to say if you want this when you apply!

Co-Chair
You'll be working with Luke Nash, our current Co-Chair in a jobshare.

The Co-Chairs are the joint leaders of the Committee, and –
Oversee the running of the Committee;Delegate tasks to other Committee Officers and makes sure everything is getting done;Preside over committee meetings;Arrange other meetings with the Students Union, and cooperate with Student Union staff and the officers to allow the Committee to work;Represent the whole Committee in external events;Sometimes take on tasks that others haven’t been able to do so the committee runs smoothly.

Secretary
The Secretary is responsible for the general organisation of the Committee, and -
Arranges Committee Meetings;Provides an agenda prior to any meetings and makes Minutes of the meetings;Monitors participation in Committee business (including keeping a record of attendance at meetings / events);Books rooms for events, meetings and campaigns;Archives all minutes / other key documents in the Committee shared drive;Does anything else they are required to do in the rest of the Constitution.
Treasurer
Manages the Committee budget and is involved with money transactions within the committee;Is responsible for signing off expenditure from Committee accounts and keeping track of expenses;Communicates with the Women's Officer and the Committee to produce basic monthly finance review;Plans and submits annual “phased” Committee budget.
Social Secretary
They -
are primarily responsible for social activities and events;Create and oversee an innovative socials programme;Ensures events involve people of different interests, and work with the Inclusions Officer to make sure this is inclusive and diverse;Coordinates socials which enhance the sense of involvement and foster the spirit of belonging to a community;In collaboration with SU Staff, ensures all relevant health and safety procedures are followed, including producing risk assessments;Ensures socials are properly organised and advertised widely;Runs and maintains a weekly social during term-time that is open to everyone and free to attend;Books rooms and venues for events;Attends and manages any event which they organise on the day, to make sure everything goes smoothly.
The Social Secretary is an optional role, and will not be left vacant if there is no-one nominated for this role. If there is no Social Secretary elected, these duties may be taken by the Committee as a whole or by the Committee member who wishes to act as the Socials Lead.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, this role will be slightly different this year - you'll be organising virtual and online socials - we can't at the moment run any in-person socials with more than 6 people from a maximum of 2 households.

Co-Campaigns Officer

You'll be working with Lauren Flynn, our current Co-Campaigns Officer in a jobshare.


The Co-Campaigns Officers
Create and oversee innovative campaigns;Are responsible for planning campaign activity, strategy, impact and reviewing progress;Works closely with the SU Staff Member and the relevant Student Union Officer;Ensure effective campaign messaging and materials;Ensures all campaigns work towards the Committee's aims and purposeWorks with the Treasurer to ensure expenditure is within budget;Works with other Committee officers to create a campaign programme which compliments their other roles (for example, working with the Social Secretary to campaign for better access to Bar One).
Overall responsibilities
All committee officers are expected to —
Attend and participate in Committee meetings and events.Help organise the online activities fairs (if this comes back in-person, you also be expected to help out at our stall and attend if needed);Promote the work of the Committee to the student bodySupport other Committee Officers in each campaign and event.Distributing flyers/posters or other promotion to raise awareness of campaigns (with the Campaigns Officer).Check your email every other day.You may be asked to do other tasks as may be needed, by one or both of the Co-Chairs.

Apply

Click on the button below to apply.

If you have applied but would like to edit your application you may do so by pressing the button below and then clicking 'Edit your response'.

Helpful tips and advice

When you apply, you can optionally write an statement or record a video (although it's recommended you do) - here are some questions to think about to help you:

Why would you be good for the role?What skills, experience and expertise do you have?How are you going to juggle the committee role and your studies?How will you work with the other committee members to achieve your role?Do you have anything you want to achieve in the year?
Your statement/video should be up to 250 words or about 3 minutes long. This is not a hard rule and we'll accept statements and video of any size - but it's more effective if it's around this length.

So that you know

By applying for a committee position, you are standing in the election of the committee position(s) that you have chosen.

You can withdraw your application at any time up to 1 hour before the start of voting (11am on 16 November). If you wish to withdraw after this, you can, but we can't guarantee that we can remove your name from the ballot form.

Applying does not guarantee you will win a position, and we may remove your application if you are found not to be eligible, if you have been banned from standing in committee elections by the Students Union, if it is vexatious or contains offensive/abusive language (we'll contact you about this if this is the case).

We will contact either way if you win or lose.

• Apply