The Deputy Returning Officer (DRO) is pleased to announce the candidates for the position of NUS Vice President Liberation & Equality.

Voting will open online on Monday 8 April at 12pm and close on Thursday 11 April at 12pm.

Voting is open to NUS reps registered to attend NUS Liberation Conference 2024.

The winning candidate is due to be announced on Friday 12 April 2024.

NUS Liberation Conference takes place on Monday 15th and Tuesday 16th April 2024.

The candidates are:

• Nat Dalkiewicz (Norwich University of the Arts Students' Union)
• Saranya Thambirajah (University of Bristol Students' Union)
• Re-open Nominations

The candidate Vanessa Mabonso Nzolo has withdrawn from the election.

Candidates

Nat Dalkiewicz
Norwich University of the Arts Students' Union

Nominated by the following students / sabbatical officers at member unions:

• Reece Lee, Norwich University of the Arts Students' Union 
• Elise Page, University East Anglia Students' Union 
• Katie Pickard, University Of Suffolk Students' Union 
• Venus Langley, Lancaster University Students' Union 
• Lewis McDermott, University of Strathclyde Students' Association 
• Marie Hie, Liverpool John Moores Students Union - JMSU 
• Timber Hill, University of Bristol Students' Union 

Hi, I’m Nat – I'm an officer at a small and specialist SU. I’ve felt grief, frustration, anger, and I’ve had enough of being silenced, belittled, and of the conceptions the government creates of us. A vote for me is a vote for collective care, activism, and liberation, and someone that will actively listen to you and work with you to organise from the ground up. I want all of us to feel part of this collective, feel heard and represented. We have to look after one another - because who else will?

Read Nat's manifesto here.

Social Media

Saranya Thambirajah
University of Bristol Students' Union

Nominated by the following students / sabbatical officers at member unions:

• Bakhtawar Javed, University of Bristol Students' Union 
• Lily Mackay, Cardiff University Students' Union 
• Eli Sluyter, Oxford University Students' Union 
• Isabella Waite, University of Sussex Students' Union 
• Lewis Warner, King's College London Students' Union 
• Pip Shaw, University of Exeter Students' Guild 
• Pheobe Hunt, University of Gloucestershire Students' Union 

I’m Saranya (she/her), I’m Equality Liberation and Access Officer at Bristol SU and I’m running for a reimagined education with liberation at its core. With Tory culture wars on campuses, and universities failing to prioritise liberation issues, we need the NUS to be a strong, relevant voice for change. I will centre grassroots student voices, be guided by the communities I represent, and work for effective and empowering representation of marginalised students. Let’s organise together, build collective power, and strengthen our communities in spite of all that works to divide or defeat us - there is no liberation in isolation. 

Read Saranya's manifesto here.

Social media

Re-open Nominations

If you wish to cast a vote, but do not want to vote for any of the other remaining candidates for this position, then you can express your desire to reopen the nominations process. If any position is not filled by a candidate, but instead Reopen nominations is declared the winner, there will be a fresh opportunity for candidates to be nominated and the election for the position in question to be re-run.

Campaigning for RON must be accountable and RON campaigns are governed by these election rules. Only registered RON campaigners may run a RON campaign. In order to register to run a Re-Open Nominations (RON) campaign, you must do this by emailing [email protected] no later than 24 hours before polls open.