Call for nominations: Chair of SEED School Board
11 Sep 2025
Nominations for the next Chair of the SEED (School of Environment, Education and Development) School Board are invited from members of academic staff in the School. Start date for this post is 1st December 2025 with an expected end date of 31st July 2028. Deadline for nominations: Friday 3rd October 2025.
About the Chair of School Board role
The role of the School Board and its membership is set out in the University Statutes and Ordinances.
School Boards are advisory bodies, which can advise the Head of School and the School’s Leadership Team ona number of matters. The School Board can therefore play an important role within the School to offer advice and feedback to leadership on key activity and ensure the staff voice is heard. As such the Agenda, Minutes and Conduct of meetings should be the responsibility of a School Elected Official, with administrative support provided through the School Operations Team. This elected official will be known as the School Board Chair. The School Board Chair is also an ex officio member of University Senate.
The School Board Chair has overall responsibility for the committee’s business. In particular, the Chair should have knowledge of the Terms of Reference of the committee, including a full understanding of its remit.
The individual elected as Chair will need to have excellent communication skills, be able to conduct meetings efficiently, and be able to recognise the various views held by colleagues.
It is expected that the School Board will meet at least three times a year. The role of the School Board Chair has an annual WAM allocation of 1000 points, in addition to the 500 points allocated to senate members.
How to nominate
Nominations for the next Chair of the School Board are invited from members of academic staff in the School under the following arrangements:
- Start date for the post is 1st December 2025 with an expected end date of 31st July 2028.
- Full-time and part-time academic staff are welcome to apply. Candidates should have sufficient contracted hours (FTE) to be able to undertake the responsibilities of the role within the term outlined.
- Nominees must submit a brief statement that includes details about their relevant experience and their ‘vision’ for the role of Chair of School Board (maximum 300 words)
- Nominees must have a proposer and a seconder, who they must have agreement from in advance and whose names should be included in the submission.
- Following close of nominations, if there is more than one candidate, an election will be held. Further information will then be circulated outlining the ballot process. The brief statement provided by nominees will then be shared as part of their ‘manifesto’.
The name of the nominee, proposer, seconder and brief statement should be submitted to Lucy Adams (lucy.adams@manchester.ac.uk) by Friday 3rd October 2025.
This is an important role within the School and interested colleagues are invited to discuss the post informally with Khalid Nadvi, Head of School and/or speak to our outgoing Chair of School Board, Miri Firth.
If you have any questions about the process, please speak to Lucy Adams.