Leacsaidh Marlow
A group of Impact Magazine writers have looked over the candidate manifestos for this year’s Student Union Elections. Our team of elections reporters interviewed every candidate who attended Media Day, discussing their motivations for running and their manifestos. Editor-in-Chief Leacsaidh Marlow has summarised and discussed each candidate’s main manifesto points, and given her views on the manifesto. Voting opens on Monday 10th March at 9am and closes on Thursday 13th March 2025 at 5pm.
Alice Fallon
Alice describes the crux of her campaign as: “Making the most of university life with sport … getting everybody involved in making it the best environment possible.”
Alice describes the UoN sports environment as “already flourishing”, saying that she simply wants to build on the brilliance that is already there. Alice has been a keen basketball player since she was eight, and is currently the President of UoN’s Womens’ Basketball Club. She says that her involvement in sport has been crucial in establishing her teamwork skills, resilience and communication – also claiming sport has taught her to work “within a collective to achieve a goal”. She believes her leadership role has given her the necessary experience to be a strong candidate for VP Sports.
Key manifesto points:
- Empowerment of women in sport
- Building a stronger community around BUCS Wednesdays
- Fostering wellbeing in UoN sport
Alice told Impact that the manifesto point she is most passionate about in guaranteeing female safety in sports at UoN. Her manifesto and interview with Impact convey her extensive passion for breaking down barriers to female participation in sports. She has a particular focus on women in running, and wishes to form a women’s running club on campus to foster female empowerment and encourage women to fight against the culture of danger that they often face when running.
Alice’s manifesto is very strong, explicitly identifying the key challenges she wants to target. She lays out specific strategies for how she would aim to tackle these problems, as well as aiming to boost engagement and spectatorship. Her manifesto is, however, ambitious, and tackling the dangers that female-identifying students face in sports has been a long-standing challenge that will be difficult to overcome.
Ed Scott Payne
Ed summarised his campaign with the phrase: “Sport for all, sport is for everyone”.
Key manifesto points:
- Increasing inclusion programs in sports
- Support committees to foster club development
- Get UoN to the top in university sport
Ed has been President of UoN Fencing for two years, increasing membership and competition performance over this period. He explains how his experience as president gives him a rich understanding of the challenges that sports clubs face at UoN, and identifies that obstacles to finances and general operations are a key struggle for clubs at the moment.
His manifesto also has a focus on mental health, accessibility and inclusion. He details key experiences in fostering wellbeing and inclusivity in UoN Sport, demonstrating his dedication to improving the environment, and also conveys how he wishes to further this movement in the direction of inclusive sport should he be elected as VP Sports for UoNSU.
Ed’s manifesto is nuanced and well-rounded in the wide variety of focuses that it covers, from engagement, to club and group governance, to wellbeing and accessibility. He conveys a strong understanding of the UoN Sport landscape and the barriers currently in place that stop it from being a fully inclusive environment. Where it falls a little short is detailing specific initiatives and changes he intends to make in order to tackle and overcome these challenges. His manifesto would therefore benefit from showing that he has considered how these issues may be reduced and what interventions may be effective.
Sami Glover
Sami described her campaign as intending to: “work with direct feedback from students to make sure all levels of sport are being supported and all students have the opportunity to play sport in a welcoming environment and prioritise their wellbeing.”
Key manifesto points:
- Listening: collecting necessary feedback from students involved in all levels of UoN sport and using this to inform the university on how to enact positive change for the sport community
- Sport for all: increasing accessibility to sport for students from all backgrounds
- Charities & mental health: fostering wellbeing in the UoN sport community, and working to support a wide range of charities through sporting endeavours
Sami told Impact that the manifesto point she is most passionate about is utilising student feedback to ensure that UoN sport is as accessible as it can possibly be to as many students as possible. She believes that every individual, regardless of identity or ability, should be valued and are a key part of what UoN Sport stands for.
Sami’s manifesto speaks of her lengthy experience in American football and netball here at UoN, explaining how her experience in these sports has given her direct links with, and understanding of, how sports groups work at different levels and the challenges that they all face.
Sami’s manifesto is strong in its identification of many different areas within UoN Sport that require attention and targeting, and is unique in its focus on how the sport community can support charity work. She also clearly identifies areas of focus where she wishes to prioritise her efforts if elected as VP Sports. Her manifesto would be further strengthened by suggesting innovative solutions to problems and specific initiatives to enact the changes that she discusses.
Head to the UoNSU website to check out all of the candidates and their original manifestos. Cast your votes from Monday 10th March at 9am.
Leacsaidh Marlow
Featured image courtesy of UoNSU, no changes have been made to this image.
In-text logo image courtesy of Joseph Banks, no changes have been made to this image.
