Voting for the LI 2023 elections will take place between 10 May and 07 June 2023.

You need to be a member of the Landscape Institute to vote in the LI elections.

Only Associate members may vote to elect Associate Council members, and only Student members may vote to elect a Student Council member. Any corporate member may vote for all other positions.

(A Corporate member is a Fellow, Chartered Member, Technician Member, Academic Member, Academic Fellow or Associate member of the LI.)

Note: If your membership fees are not paid, you will not be eligible to vote!

All newly elected members will take office on 1 July 2023. We will announce the results on or shortly before this date.

The LI elections are managed by our independent electoral services provider Mi-Voice. As well as hosting an independent voting website, Mi-Voice will manage notifications, nominations and voting.

The LI maintains oversight of this process to make sure everything runs according to our official governance documents (namely the Royal Charter, By-Laws and Regulations).  Advisory Council have appointed an Election Officer who has responsibility for the conduct and integrity of the elections.  The Election Officer will adjudicate on contentious or erroneous content before publication and the candidate may be required to make deletions or revisions. The decision of the Election Officer shall be final. 

You can find further details and technical requirements for nominations on the nominations website hosted by our external electoral services provider Mi-Voice. 

Nominations for the LI 2023 elections open on 22 March and run until 19 April 2023.

You need to be a member of the Landscape Institute to stand for election to the LI Board or Council. Who is eligible depends on the position:

• Officers: Chartered members with specific skills and experience can apply. (See ‘About the roles’ below.)
• Chartered Council members: Any chartered member of the Landscape Institute (CMLI or FLI) can stand.
• Non-chartered Board member: Any non-chartered member (Academic, Technician, Associate and Student members of the LI) can stand.
• Associate Council member: Only Associate members can stand.
• Student Council member: Only Student members can stand.

Note: If your membership fees are not paid, you will not be eligible to stand!

The LI has a growing, diversifying and increasingly global membership. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for members and employees, and welcome applications from all members who fit the role criteria. 

The LI aims to tackle future skills shortages as a major priority in the coming two years. Because of this, we are particularly interested to hear from applicants who: 

• Come from smaller practices, and can help us identify and address skills issues that affect them directly. 
• are connected to different sectors and can offer insight into how we can collaborate more with other industry bodies. 
• are women. LI research has found that the gender balance in the landscape profession is equal at entry level, but becomes progressively unequal at senior levels. Therefore a priority area for the LI’s Diversity and Inclusion Working Group is to help more female members of the profession into leadership roles. 
• are from minority backgrounds, and can help us improve representation of diverse communities in landscape – especially at the leadership level. This includes people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities; LGBT+ people; people from marginalised communities; and people with disabilities. 
• are from overseas, and can help us identify opportunities to broaden our membership abroad, share knowledge, and strengthen professional connections across the globe.
• Are younger people 

The LI currently mostly holds digital meetings but we will always accommodate travel and access requirements where we can for in person LI activity,. For candidates outside the UK,  please do be aware that we hold all meetings during UK working hours. 

This section of the nominations site allows for candidates to include details of organisations that they feel are relevant to their nomination. Candidates should only list organisation names, with no other supplementary text. Additional information in this section will be removed.

Honorary Officer role nominations require the support of at least 25 paid-up Chartered members, unless the nominee served previously on our Board, Council or one of our standing committees. In these cases, nominations require the support of at least three paid-up Chartered members. 

Other roles require a minimum of three supporters. (Grade requirements may apply.)

Supporters will be contacted to confirm that they have agreed to the nomination and that their details are correct. If any supporter has not agreed to be named, or is not a paid-up member of the appropriate grade, then the nomination will be void.

When submitting your nomination, don’t forget to allow enough time for any supporters to confirm their support. On submission of an application, the named supporters will automatically be sent an email asking them to follow a link to acknowledge their support online. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure that their supporters complete their confirmation before the nominations deadline. Your nomination is not complete until the minimum required number of supporters have completed their confirmation.

Candidates may submit details of more supporters than the minimum required.

If you have any queries, please get in touch with the LI Regulations Team.

The LI will be electing 4 officers (who sit on both Board and Council), 10 ordinary Council members, and one non-Chartered Board Member.

Officers:

• President Elect/Acting President
• Vice-President
• Honorary Secretary
• Honorary Treasurer

Advisory Council:

• 7 Chartered members
• 2 Associate members
• 1 Student member

Board:

• Non-Chartered Trustee

LI Board and Council members are volunteers. But these are very much professional roles, with responsibilities and commitments like any other. If you are considering applying, please read the role descriptions closely before submitting your candidate statement.

• President Elect / Acting President and Vice President
• Honorary Secretary
• Honorary Treasurer
• Trustee

The Board of Trustees has ultimate responsibility for the activities of the Landscape Institute, in line with the requirements of the Charities Act and as prescribed by the Royal Charter, By-Laws and Regulations. The Board approves the LI’s budgets and signs off our annual business plans. Trustees should be comfortable making important decisions on the delivery of the LI’s strategy and operational business. 

For more information, see the Board of Trustees Terms of Reference.

The Advisory Council meets three times per year to take part in business and strategic planning. Representing a wide-cross section of the LI membership, our Council members lend their expertise to the LI Board and staff team. Their views and input help us set business priorities and identify new opportunities. 

For more information, see the Advisory Council Terms of Reference.

Each of the elected officer positions has a different role description. The full descriptions are below

President Elect / Acting President and Vice President
Honorary Secretary
Honorary Treasurer

Members who are elected officers are required to step down from any pre-existing roles such as Standing Committees, Panels, Branch Committees, Work Groups etc

The Board of Trustees meets 5 times per year, normally in September, November, December, March, and June. Advisory Council meets 3 times per year, in July, November and February.

Attendance can be in person or remotely, but in either case, we require Board and Council members to read the meeting papers in advance and come prepared! 

LI Board meetings align with the business year. Each serves a different operational and strategic function.

• The first meeting in September is to assess LI risk and performance.
• The second meeting in November takes place as part of a weekend event. It normally follows the LI AGM and Jellicoe lecture on the first day and a strategy leadership retreat (held jointly with the Advisory Council) on the second day. The Board holds a short strategy meeting on the third day, typically a Saturday.
• The third meeting in December is for business planning and assumptions in advance of the new financial year.
• The fourth meeting in March is to set the budget and approve the business plan for the new financial year.
• The fifth meeting in June is a short handover meeting for current and incoming Board members, this is usually preceded by an induction session for the new Board.

LI Council meetings align with the business year. Each meeting deals with a number of separate aspects of LI operations and governance.

• The first meeting in July follows an induction session for the new Council. It focuses on oversight, education, regulation and governance.
• The second meeting in November is usually a strategy leadership retreat (held jointly with the Board of Trustees). It is usually the second day of a two-day event, with the LI AGM and Jellicoe lecture taking place on the first day.
• The third meeting in February focuses on influencing, policy, technical standards and engagement.

The officers (President, President Elect, Vice-President, Honorary Secretary and Honorary Treasurer) attend both Board and Council meetings and work for the LI outside these meetings. The time commitment is therefore greater for these roles than for the other positions on LI Board and Council.

The heaviest workload will fall to the President Elect / Acting President. While the LI staff team will support the President as much as possible, and endeavour to spread commitments evenly throughout the year, we estimate that the time requirement is equivalent to 2 days per week.

To support more candidates applying for this role, the LI allows the President to apply for a President’s stipend based on lost income. This is in addition to the general expenses available to all those working and volunteering for the LI.

We don’t expect our volunteers to be out of pocket as a result of their work for us. We reimburse all reasonable expenses incurred in the course of LI-related work; the LI expenses reimbursement guide outlines what expenses we can cover.

Though the guide focuses on travel and accommodation costs, Board and Council members can also claim for any reasonable cost not covered by the guide (subject to advance approval).

Step one – Preparation

Before applying, please take the time to read through the LI Corporate Strategy to re-familiarise yourself with our goals and vision.

There are a range of important documents that all candidates should read in preparation, these are also available on the Nominations Site: 

References

Advisory Council Terms of Reference
Board of Trustees Terms of Reference
By-Laws
Campaigning Guidelines
Charter
Code of Practice
Election Timetable 2023
Eligibility Declaration
FRC Terms of Reference
President’s Declaration on Conduct
President’s Stipend Process Guide
Regulations
Trustees Code of Conduct

Role descriptions

President and Vice-President
Honorary Secretary
Honorary Treasurer
Election Officer
Trustee

Step two – Candidate statement

All candidates should prepare a 250-word candidate statement that outlines:

• how you would support the LI in delivering its corporate strategy.
• how your work embodies the LI’s core values of being:
  • caring and nurturing
  • creative and passionate
  • socially and environmentally aware
• your skills and experience that are relevant for your chosen role.

Step three – video

If you are applying for the position of President Elect / Acting President: As the President is the figurehead for the membership as a whole and will represent the LI and the landscape profession, a short video is required in addition to the candidate statement. The LI will host a filming session once the nomination process has closed.

If you are applying for the position of Vice President: As the VP is expected to deputise for the President candidates are strongly encouraged to be filmed as per the President above.

The elections launch on 10 May 2023 and run until 0959 on 07 June 2023.

Only LI members can vote in the LI elections. For more information on who can vote for which categories, see ‘About the elections’ above.

Candidates who are standing for election can seek support from their fellow members during the election period.

Members should only use their personal and professional networks to support their nomination. Official LI channels, such as social media accounts and mailboxes, member directory, branch networks, should not be used.

Share your campaign via social media

• LinkedIn lets you capitalise on your existing industry contacts and frame your campaign using the helpful blog feature, which will provide your audience with a long-form read.
• Facebook, again, has the option to create long-form content or a series of posts, but in a more approachable/informal setting.
• Twitter is useful when creating attention-grabbing content, a quick way to trim down your key campaign points, and useful for linking your audience straight through to any other materials – such as articles, statements or videos – you might want to share.

The LI must remain impartial throughout the election process. We will notify members that the ballot has opened, but will not discuss individual candidates.

All members will be sent notification of the ballot via email. This email will contain a link to the election website, which will show the candidates’ statements, the names of their supporters and video, for President Elect / Acting President and Vice President candidates. The statements can also be accessed through the LI website.