NUS elects its full-time officers for 2026–28

The one you’re most likely to see on the telly is probably Favour Samuel, NUS England President, who is the outgoing President of the University of Nottingham Students’ Union. Originally from South Africa, she trained as a human rights lawyer before coming to Nottingham to study International Human Rights Law at postgraduate level.

She has spoken publicly about her own experiences of accommodation exploitation, food bank reliance, and near-deportation as an international student. During her time at Nottingham, she co-ordinated a national response on behalf of 927 Ghanaian students facing deportation, led a coalition of Russell Group student leaders opposing the proposed international student levy, and built a legal advisory framework for international students navigating changes to the Graduate Route visa.

Her manifesto is structured around a human rights framework. Key priorities include campaigning against further marketisation of higher education, pushing for increased maintenance grants and funding reform and rebuilding national apprenticeship representation.

She puts particular emphasis on international students’ rights – including restoring the Graduate Route to 24 months, removing the 20-hour work cap, and challenging the NHS surcharge. She also commits to reasserting NUS’s position on Palestine, confronting far-right organising on campuses, making misogyny a hate crime, and launching a national student rights education programme.

Lewis Wilson will become the VP Higher Education (England), and is currently the Education and Employability Officer at the University of Sussex SU. He’s changed university policy to allow greater flexibility for working students, helped deliver a socially responsible investment policy leading to divestment, negotiated student bus fare reductions saving over £500,000, and secured rent freezes on the cheapest campus accommodation.

His priorities include campaigning for expanded maintenance grants, supporting sabbatical officers in achieving rent freezes and challenging exploitative accommodation models, and pushing for lower prices through the NUS trading consortium. On international students, he opposes the international student levy, supports extending and removing thresholds on the Graduate Route visa, and wants to end the 20-hour work restriction and NHS surcharge.

He pledges to fight further marketisation of higher education, particularly opposing the linking of the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) to tuition fees. He also calls for dual GP registration for students, reform of Personal Independence Payment (PIP), and stronger institutional support for trans students – citing the Office for Students’ actions against the University of Sussex. He supports making misogyny a hate crime, advocates for divestment from unethical companies, and calls for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Justine Pedussel, elected as NUS Scotland President, is currently President at University of Stirling SU. She was a founder of Scotland’s Housing Campaign, which contributed to students winning the right to leave their accommodation with 28 days’ notice through the Housing Bill 2025. She also co-leads the Scottish Elections Campaign and has produced Know Your Rights booklets that have been adopted by other campuses.

Her manifesto centres on three areas. First, rebuilding the student movement through greater NUS presence on campuses, more training and networking for officers, and stronger support for college officers. Second, securing better funding for education – building on the Tertiary Education Bill, which gave the Scottish Funding Council new powers and created requirements for student consultation.

Third, and perhaps most controversially for some, she calls for an independent NUS Scotland, arguing that education is a devolved matter and that NUS Scotland should not be bound by stuff designed for the English system.

Jennifer Taylor is to be the NUS Cymru President, currently Carmarthen President at the UWTDS SU and an MA student in Medieval Studies. She has been a full-time and part-time student at UWTSD for over a decade and sits on the university’s governing council. She is also a member of the NUS Liberation Collective Disabled Students Working Group, which focuses on funding and access.

Her priorities include working with the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol to improve access to Welsh-medium courses, particularly in further education – noting that only 2 per cent of the Welsh tertiary education budget currently goes towards Welsh-medium provision. She plans to develop campaigns supporting international students around housing rights, employment law, and safety.

She wants to continue lobbying on cost of living issues, including lower tuition fees, increased financial support, and free public transport for students. She also intends to advocate for student and learner rights through engagement with Medr, on whose board the NUS Cymru President sits.

Amy Smith is to be the new NUS-USI President, and is the current President of the SU at Queen’s University Belfast. In that role, she has focused on strengthening student representation, improving communication between students and university leadership, and campaigning on student wellbeing and academic support.

Her manifesto calls for a fundamental review of student financial support in further education, including the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA), and wants FE students’ unions to be able to operate independently. She pledges to champion apprenticeships as equal pathways, with targeted outreach to widen participation – particularly for women in construction and engineering, and students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

On cost of living, she wants to move from crisis response to structural change, campaigning for expanded hardship funds, subsidised transport, and maintenance support that reflects actual living costs. She also commits to tackling violence against women and girls through mandatory consent education, trauma-informed support services, and institutional accountability.

Avery Greatorex will be the Vice President Liberation and Equality (UK). Avery is currently a part-time officer at the University of Lancashire, where she has used a community organising approach to expand identity and inclusion groups. She has been active in trans rights campaigning, including a postcard campaign across more than 15 students’ unions to ban conversion therapies and organising a rally on Parliament Square following the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of sex.

Her manifesto focuses on tackling racism and division on campuses, LGBTQ+ safety and trans rights – including lobbying for expanded gender identity care and inclusive sports policies – disability justice, women’s safety, and Palestine. She frames her approach around community organising, emphasising the creation of spaces for difficult conversations and equipping activists with practical tools rather than issuing statements.

Finally, Kaynat Ahmad will be the Vice President Further Education (England), and is currently the President of Dudley College Students’ Union. Her big priority is rebuilding the connection between NUS and further education colleges, and she plans to campaign for affordable transport, and push for better mental health services across colleges. She also wants greater representation for apprentices, including protections against workplace discrimination and clearer pathways into employment or higher education.

They take up their roles on July 1st. Congrats to them all.