The University held elections for three of the four staff positions on Council in June 2016. For the first time, an online system was used for the nominations and the elections, and this proved to be a success.

There were two available positions on Council for academic and research staff and five expressions of interest were received. After an election where 432 members of staff took part, Dr Owen Lyne from the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science, and Professor John Fitzpatrick, from Kent Law School, were elected. There was a very good response rate of 41% for this election.

There was one available position on Council for a member of the University’s staff from Grades 1 to 6 and eight expressions of interest were received for this position. Charlotte Guy from the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, was elected with 19% of the votes cast after a very close election. Again, there was a good response rate of 32% for the election, with 461 members of staff taking part.

All three will serve as members of Council from 1 August 2016 until 31 July 2019, joining Mark Ellis from the School of Engineering and Digital Arts, who was elected last year as a member of the University’s staff from Grades 7 and above.

Further information on the University Council, its membership and terms of reference, is available on the University Governance webpages.