Department rep by-election October 2025

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

The UCU branch committee is calling a set of by-elections for where there are department rep vacancies, to ensure there are reps across the university

If there is a vacancy in your area (see list below), please think about which of your colleagues might be a good UCU rep. For example, someone that colleagues have confidence in, whose judgement they trust, and who is a good listener.

The deadline for nominations is the end of Thursday 16 October. See below for how to nominate someone.

This is a by-election, which means current reps do not need to be re-elected. The term of office will be until the next full elections in May/June.

What does a UCU department rep do?

A network of department reps across the university is crucial for maintaining and increasing the strength of the union and ensuring the branch committee learns about problems in different areas.

UCU department reps are a point of contact for union members in that school, department, service or area, and they alert the branch committee to issues concerning members in their area.

Most, but not all, department reps also support members with individual problems at work (but only outside of their own department).  Department reps don’t negotiate with local management on behalf of the union – all consultation and negotiation with UCU is done centrally by the negotiating team.

Department reps will try to welcome new staff and make sure they know about the union.

You can find out more about the roles of UCU reps at ucu.org.uk/rep

Department reps and remaining roles available

Professional services

Digital Education Service

Claudia Rogers, department rep

Remaining roles available:
1 health and safety rep

Human Resources including ODPL

Jenny Rivas Perez, department rep

Remaining roles available:
3 department reps
4 health and safety reps

IT

Andi Rylands, department rep

Louise Marr, department rep

Remaining roles available:
4 department reps
6 health and safety reps

Library

Emily Haikney, department rep
Nicola Barnett, department rep

Remaining roles available:
2 health and safety reps

Lifelong Learning Centre

Rachel Walls, department rep

Remaining roles available:
1 health and safety rep

Research and Innovation Service

Remaining roles available:
3 department reps
3 health and safety reps

Student Education and Experience (not otherwise listed)

(This covers all areas, unless listed separately, in Student Success and Educational Engagement, Student Curriculum and Operations, Student Experience and Support)

Simon Welsh, department rep

Alexa Athelstan, department rep

Remaining roles available:
3 department reps
5 health and safety reps

Professional services, except those listed separately

Remaining roles available:
13 department reps
13 health and safety reps

Facilities directorate

Remaining roles available:
3 department reps
3 health and safety reps

Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures

School of Design

Eirini Boukla, department rep

Lindsey Waterton Taylor, department rep

Mark Taylor, department health and safety rep

Remaining roles available:
1 department reps
2 health and safety reps

School of English

Tony Crowley, department rep

Brendon Nicholls, department health and safety rep

Remaining roles available:
1 department reps
1 health and safety reps

Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies

Gill Park, department rep (equality)

Remaining roles available:
1 health and safety rep

School of History

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

School of Languages, Cultures and Societies (except Language Centre)

Corinne Painter, health and safety rep

Fabio Sarranito, department rep

Ingrid Sharp, health and safety rep

Leah Wang, department rep

Ruba Khamam, department rep

Sarah Hudspith, health and safety rep

Sarah Waters, health and safety rep

Remaining roles available:
1 department rep

Language Centre

Angela Hume, department rep

Sara Montgomery, health and safety rep

Remaining roles available:
1 department rep
1 health and safety rep

School of Media and Communication

Helen Thornham, department rep

Joanne Armitage, department rep

Miriam Kent, department rep

Remaining roles available:
2 health and safety reps

School of Music

Ewan Stefani, department rep

James Mooney, health and safety rep

Remaining roles available: none

Performance and Cultural Industries

ally Walsh, health and safety rep

Matty Elliot, department rep

Remaining roles available:
1 department rep
1 health and safety rep

School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science

Simon Hewitt, department rep

Remaining roles available:
1 department reps
2 health and safety reps

Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (office / unless listed separately)

Remaining roles available:
1 department rep
1 health and safety rep

Faculty of Biological Sciences

School of Molecular and Cellular Biology

Remaining roles available:
3 department reps
3 health and safety reps

School of Biomedical Sciences

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

School of Biology

Chris Hassall, department rep (covering all the faculty)

Remaining roles available:
1 department reps
2 health and safety reps

Faculty of Biological Sciences (office / unless listed separately)

Remaining roles available:
1 department reps
1 health and safety reps

Faculty of Business

Faculty of Business (Leeds University Business School)

Alex Seehaus, department rep

Andreas Georgiadis, department rep

Jane Holgate, department rep

Stefan Kesting, department rep and health and safety rep

Tao Jiang, department rep

Vera Trappmann, department rep

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
7 health and safety reps

Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences

School of Chemical and Process Engineering

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

School of Chemistry

Lavinia Onel, department rep

Sandy James, department rep

Remaining roles available:
2 health and safety reps

School of Civil Engineering

Barbara Evans, department rep

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
3 health and safety reps

School of Computing

Hamish Carr, department rep

Remaining roles available:
1 department rep
2 health and safety reps

School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering

Paul Steenson, department rep

Remaining roles available:
1 department rep
2 health and safety reps

School of Mathematics

Remaining roles available:
3 department reps
3 health and safety reps

School of Mechanical Engineering

Remaining roles available:
3 department reps
3 health and safety reps

School of Physics and Astronomy

Tim Moorsom, department rep

Remaining roles available:
1 department rep
2 health and safety reps

Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences (office and unless listed separately)

Remaining roles available:
1 department rep
1 health and safety rep

Faculty of Environment

School of Earth and Environment

Jonathan Busch, department rep

Natalie Kopytko, department rep

Valeria Tolis, health and safety rep

Remaining roles available:
6 department reps
7 health and safety reps

School of Food Science and Nutrition

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

School of Geography

Asa Roast, department rep

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
3 health and safety reps

Institute for Transport Studies

David Watling, department rep

Paul Timms, department rep

Remaining roles available:
2 health and safety reps

Faculty of Environment (office / unless listed separately)

Remaining roles available:
1 department rep
1 health and safety rep

Faculty of Medicine and Health

Leeds Institute of Medical Research (LIMR)

Remaining roles available:
4 department reps
4 health and safety reps

Institute of Clinical Trials Research (LICTR)

Duncan Wilson, department rep

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
3 health and safety reps

Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine (LICAMM)

Remaining roles available:
4 department reps
4 health and safety reps

Leeds Institute of Health Sciences

Dan Howdon, department rep

Remaining roles available:
3 department reps
4 health and safety reps

Leeds Institute of Medical Education

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

Leeds Institute of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Medicine (LIRMM)

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

NIHR RDN CC

Remaining roles available:
1 department reps
1 health and safety rep

Leeds Institute for Data Analytics (LIDA)

Remaining roles available:
1 department rep
1 health and safety rep

School of Dentistry

Nigel Bubb, health and safety rep

Remaining roles available:
3 department reps
2 health and safety reps

School of Healthcare

Remaining roles available:
Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

School of Psychology

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

Faculty of Medicine and Health (office and unless listed separately)

Remaining roles available:
4 department reps
4 health and safety reps

Faculty of Social Sciences

School of Law

Amanda Keeling, department rep

Carrie Bradshaw, health and safety rep

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

School of Politics and International Studies

Charlie Dannreuther, department rep

Lata Narayanaswamy, department rep

Remaining roles available:
2 health and safety reps

School of Education

Richard Badger, department rep

Indira Banner, department rep

Remaining roles available:
2 health and safety reps

School of Sociology and Social Policy

Claudia Raviden, department rep
Maria Rovisco, department rep

Remaining roles available:
2 department reps
2 health and safety reps

Faculty of Social Sciences (office / unless listed separately)

Remaining roles available:
1 department reps
1 health and safety reps

Department rep roles

The committee changed the roles and boundaries changed for the 2024-2026 term of office, with the aim of members electing teams of reps to work together in their area.

The list above shows who your elected reps are and where there are still vacancies. (This is a by-election, which means you do not need to re-nominate reps who are already elected for 2024-2026.)

Instead of nominating for particular department rep roles or areas of focus (anti-casualisation, postgraduate, equality) these can be agreed later between the department reps elected. (Anyone taking a particular role is also still a general department rep.) This should give reps more flexibility if someone moves mid-term.

In a large department, if a rep wants, the website could list a specific work area to help members to find them and to decide who might best understand their issue. For example, a department rep for the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies might want to be listed with “(French)” after their name, but they would still be a rep for the whole school.

The number listed for health and safety reps includes workload reps. (You can specify “workload rep” or “health and safety rep” in your nominations if you wish but a health and safety reps can change focus to being a workload rep and vice versa, subject to appointment by the health and safety officer and appropriate training.)

Nominations

To nominate a colleague (with their agreement!) please email ucu@leeds.ac.uk, ideally include the word “nomination” in the email subject, saying, for example:

Dear UCU branch administrator

I wish to nominate James Smith for UCU department rep for the School of English

Yours faithfully

Maria García Sánchez

Each candidate needs two nominations by the deadline and to have confirmed by the deadline that they are willing to stand to be eligible for election. Nominations normally have to be from UCU members in the same department, but exceptions can be made for very small departments.

It would be helpful if candidates could arrange to be nominated by not more than two colleagues, copying you in so you know it’s been sent, as excess nominations create unnecessary work.

Respecting religious holiday observance

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

With the start of the new academic year, we would like to draw attention to the importance of respecting important religious holidays when requested, particularly those of minoritised faiths. We have a few upcoming religious holidays during teaching intensive periods. Please do make note of these and support staff and student requests.

Different people have different approaches to practicing faith, so no one is expected to know about the needs of individuals. Together, we can try to make campus more inclusive (and in my opinion, vibrant and less tokenistic). To this end, please see below a quick list of useful resources and provisions at the university.

  • One can find general information and guidance on supporting staff and students from this landing page on Religion and Belief
  • This guidance overview relates to requests for flexibility and time off on religious grounds – please pay attention to the call to accommodate requests as the immediate response. If you have authority in this regard, please be sensitive to such requests.
  • Do download or view the collaboratively compiled Faith Calendar! Please note that some days of observance have an impact on whether members of faith can work – some of these are imminent. They can be found in the Faith Calendar.
  • Relatedly, we can also expand our knowledge and learn about the specific needs during Jewish High Holidays and Ramadan.

Some festivals may not have an impact on work, however, staff and students may take time off for religious holidays. Do try to ensure that this does not disadvantage them.

Our university calendars and days off continue to reflect a bias towards (certain) Christian holidays in a supposedly secular state, which puts members of minoritised faiths/religious minorities in the uncomfortable position of needing to request days off for events of religious significance. In recognition of this, we call on those who do not practice religion and those whose religious holidays are catered to (even if serendipitously) to be considerate towards holidays of importance to others.

I hope everyone finds these resources useful to have in one place, and the knowledge shared about different religions insightful (and if you end up nerding out about different calendars, know you are not alone).

In solidarity and with care,

Sinead (on behalf of UCU Committee)

This post if from an email to branch members, 19 September 2025, from Sinéad D’Silva, equality officer.

LeedsUCU podcast: branch news 5 September 2025

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

In today’s episode, recorded Thursday 4 September 2025 (and published late): Changes to our branch committee, career pathways, the White paper, changes to university policies.

With Jenny Rivas Perez, Rachel Walls and Alan Smith.

If you prefer your union branch news direct to your ears, search for LeedsUCU wherever you get your podcasts, and subscribe so you get notified about new episodes. 

See all the episodes and transcripts at https://www.leedsucu.org.uk/about-us/podcast/

To join UCU go to ⁠https://www.ucu.org.uk/join

Direct links to the LeedsUCU podcast 

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2Ht1Iks9WPR6qbmGXXOXfS

Amazon Podcasts https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/1f16de89-30ec-444a-83ac-54bcbe0bcac6/leedsucu-podcast

Pocket Casts https://pca.st/pacoaeqd

Also available on Apple Podcasts

Transcript

Rachel

Welcome to the LeedsUCU podcast, for members of the University of Leeds branch of the University and College Union.

Alan

In today’s branch news.

Rachel

Changes to our branch committee.

Alan

Career pathways.

Rachel

The White paper.

Alan

Changes to university policies.

Rachel

I’m Rachel Walls, one of your podcast hosts. I’m also a UCU department rep for Lifelong Learning, branch committee member and saxophone or clarinet player in our occasional picket line band the Orchestrike!

Alan

And I’m Alan Smith, co-host for this podcast, and the branch administrator and organiser. We thought it would be useful for members of the branch to have an alternative channel for getting your local news because reading long emails or website posts is not everyone’s first choice.

Rachel

So we’re here to be a friendly voice from the UCU University of Leeds branch to keep you in better touch with what is going on, such as what the elected officers are working on and what opportunities there are for you to get involved in UCU discussions, socialising, activism and decision making.

[brief music]

Rachel

For today’s podcast, which we’re recording on the on 4th of September 2025, we have Jenny Rivas to give us an update on Branch News. Hi Jenny. We’ve started the new academic year, so that means we have a new elected UCU branch committee.

Jenny

Hi Rachel. Yes. Well, it seems like it’s been a very short summer since we last did a podcast, and also a very full one. And officers have been incredibly busy over the summer, and now we’re at the start of the academic year with a brand new committee and some changes to our officers team. So we’ve got 4 new committee members and we a number of people have shuffled about on the officers team as well. So I’ll just sort of go through what’s happened with the officers, certainly because it’s been a while since we had the elections. But as usual, it all changes on 1st of September. So first of all, we’ve got a new vice president. So that’s Sandy James, who previously job shared the role of anti casualisation officer with Dan Howden. So Sandy’s vice president whilst Dan remains in the job in the in the role of officer for anti casualisation. And then also we’ve got Anya Komatar, who has moved from campaigns officer to membership officer and I should say that Anja has taken over from Emily Haikney, who is stepping down from committee after having done a fantastic job in the membership officer role over the past couple of years. And and the other thing to note is that we have 1 remaining vacancy open amongst the officers and that is for the campaigns role, and the committee will be making an announcement about an election for this soon.

Alan

So over the summer period, when there’s traditionally fewer negotiations so that people can, you know, have a holiday, there has been consultation over the proposals for career support and progression.

Jenny

Yes amongst many things. So as I said, it’s been a very busy summer for the branch and branch officers. We’ve been going through extensive consultation process all summer with the university on the career pathways proposals, which is looking at career support and progression for staff and this project has been split into two parts and over the summer there’s been a series of intense consultation meetings between HR and UCU looking at proposals for academic progression in detail. And so this has been the part of the project that’s around progression for academic staff and alongside this, there is also going to be a series of consultation meetings which begin this week looking at professional staff progression as well. And we expect that to be as detailed and as intense as it has been for academic staff and continues to be as well, there’s many issues that are being ironed out there in that consultation, still.

Rachel

Thanks Jenny, have there been any developments since our last podcast on the university White Paper, which was on finances and the shape and the size of the university?

Jenny

Well, the trade unions met with the VC at the end of July to discuss the White Paper and, there were no grand reveals of plans at that meeting. However, when we asked about the plans and how they would be implemented, we were told that the work on the academic alignment, i.e. the faculties, was more evolved in terms of planning than the work on the professional services efficiency and effectiveness part of the work. But that their plans for the realignment, even so, weren’t yet fixed and might change along the way, so these two sort of key areas, key plans, were also described as being underpinned by projects such as the career pathways which I was just talking about, the redesign of staff appraisal, and also projects around about the values and behaviours and leadership development as well. They also said that whilst there were no plans in place as yet, the university is facing a challenging financial landscape. And they couldn’t guarantee they wouldn’t look at staff reductions in areas and they were pains to say in a managed way in future if necessary, and that they do not want to be in a situation where they have a widespread VLS voluntary leavers scheme. As that just means skills deficits and having to be hire more people to fill the holes that are left. So this is something that we are watching closely to see how it develops obviously.

Alan

So those aren’t the only policy changes that are being negotiated over the summer, I understand you’ve been having meetings on all sorts of different issues.

Jenny

Yeah. Well, the the meeting with the the VC was really about for information and to sort of like keep us in loop with the whole White Paper issue. But yes, there’s been lots of different meetings with management over the summer and lots of consultation meetings. We have of course had our regular bi-weekly meetings with HR and the other trade unions, which are consultation meetings. And we also had one of our regular JCUU meetings, which is the Joint Committee of the University and UCU, and this was in early July. And so that’s like the formal negotiating meetings we have about 5 a year. And at JCUU, we raised the changes to the trans policy and the lack of consultation on that – lack of consultation with the trade unions. In fact, over the summer we’ve been presented with a number of policies from the university, not just the trans policy, but also instances of changes to the policy on freedom of expression. With a consultation with the trade unions, I would be kind [in] saying that it was inadequate. So we’ve objected to this and to the way that this has been operating and the lack of consultation and it is a real problem. The imposition of the trans policy in particular is causing many ongoing issues and a lot of distress. And in response to this, the trade unions organised joint meeting about this in August, and have been working together to take forward actions from that. So we’ll keep Members updated on that because obviously August, it’s kind of difficult getting people together to, butwe’re keeping that that on the boil and there will be more coming about that soon. So more generally. However, the lack of meaningful consultation on this issue, we’re raising it every time it happens. And we’ll continue to raise it with the university until it’s fixed. It’s just really important. When consultation works well and the university listens to the feedback from the trade unions, it prevents a lot of friction in the workplace. It prevents a lot of wasted time fixing problems and it leads to productive outcomes, not just for our members. For management too. So it’s very necessary for the unions and management, that consultation is done properly. And we expect to be moving into a period of intense consultation and negotiation over quite a few other issues as well. There are a lot of HR policies that are in need of updating and are due to be updated in the coming months, starting with the family leave policies. And we know from talking to members and from our casework that there are a lot of issues with many of those policies and the levels of benefits that people receive. And we believe, going into this, that the university is amenable to increasing some of the benefits, not least because there’s a new employment rights bill going through Parliament, albeit kind of slowly at the moment. But that is likely to force some changes soon. And so the university can act before then because they’ve seen what’s gone into the bill. However, in preparation for these negotiations, I just want to flag up as well that we’d really like to hear from members about their experiences of accessing family leave, maternity leave, paternity leave, parental leave all the various different – what am I missing out there? adoption leave and also bereavement leave as well – but what have people’s experience has been so we’re going to have a meeting next Tuesday on the 9th of September from 12 to 1 and people should have had an e-mail through about that and it would be great if people could come along and tell us about their experiences of accessing family benefits, or even just, if you can’t make that meeting, you know, drop me an e-mail because that information is really, really useful as we’re going into these new negotiations as well. So please go and have a look for that e-mail if you’ve not seen it and you’d like to contribute.

Alan

And that’s an open meeting as well, isn’t it? So it’s not just for UCU members. So you know, if you work at the university and you’ve got experience of those policies the UCU committee wants to hear from you whether or not you remember. If you’re not a member, you won’t have received the e-mail, so, either ask your friend who is a member or e-mail ucu@leeds.ac.uk and we will send you the meeting link.

Rachel

OK. So other than that meeting what is coming up for UCU members?

Jenny

Well, we will have some general meetings scheduled very, very soon. So the general meetings, those are the meetings for all members and we should have the dates for those agreed by committee next week and then we’ll let branch members know, but it’s likely that the first meeting, the first general meeting, will be on Wednesday 1st of October. Which would mean that the deadline for motions to that meeting will be at 12PM on Tuesday, the 23rd of September. And it’s kind of important to take note of that, because it’s not just about motions for branch policy. What’s coming up soon is the deadline for motions to the UCU national equality conferences. And if you want to send a motion to one of the UCU equality conferences – so that’s the women’s conference, the LGBT+ conference, the Black members conference and the disabled conference in particular, or to nominate someone to stand for the national standing committees for one of those equality groups, then you need to be aiming to put a motion in by 12:00 PM on Tuesday the 23rd of September. And if you want some help turning any ideas that you have about equality issues into a motion, there’s some general advice on our website or you could ask your department rep or one of the committee members. Now, there’s also an equality conference and standing committee for migrant members and I believe that’s in December, so that’s likely that the deadline for motions to that conference will be later, but we’ll let you know for definite by e-mail once meeting dates are decided. And of course, we’ll put all of that information in an e-mail, because, you might want to go and check dates and things like that once we send out information about the general meetings for the year.

Alan

So you mentioned earlier that the committee will be making a decision on electing a campaigns officer because there’s a vacancy there. The committee is also going to be discussing where there are vacancies for department reps aren’t they?

Jenny

Yes, yes. So we are looking to hold some by-elections for those vacancies because it’s really important that we have those vacancies filled, particularly if we find ourselves getting into a situation where – you know – we’re expecting a lot of change over this year. There is the realignment of the faculties, as it’s been put, there is also the changes to professional services. We want to make sure that we have reps in place so that we know what’s going on in the ground and that members are supported on the ground as well. So these are important by-elections and if you if you don’t have a have a local rep, perhaps consider becoming a rep over the next year. It’s a great role to be. Both I and Rachel are both local reps as well and it’s really about keeping the committee in touch with members and members in touch with the committee. So consider it.

Alan

OK, that’s great. So thanks, Jenny for bringing us the branch news.

[Thank yous].

[Brief music]

Rachel

That’s all for today’s LeedsUCU podcast. Thank you for listening. Please subscribe on whatever platform you’re listening to us on so you’ll know as soon as we publish our next episode.

Alan

If you work in the University of Leeds in an academic or academic-related professional or managerial role or as a postgraduate student doing paid teaching, and if you’re not yet a member of UCU, head to ucu.org.uk/join to find out more. Wherever you work, make sure you join the union for your workplace.

Rachel

This podcast is made on behalf of the Committee of the University and College Union, University of Leeds Branch. If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail our branch officers at ucu@leeds.ac.uk. See our website leedsucu.org.uk for alternative contact details and for a transcript of this episode.

This year’s general meetings 2025-2026

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

Here is the schedule of UCU University of Leeds branch general meetings for the 2025-2026 academic year.

General meetings are for all members of UCU University of Leeds branch. It is where we make most of our collective decisions. If you think there is something the union collectively should (or shouldn’t!) be doing, you can propose a motion to a general meeting.

This is the schedule of ordinary general meetings for the academic year. There are often extra-ordinary or emergency general meetings convened to discuss specific issues – they won’t usually be published on here but members of the branch will be informed by email.

Wednesday 1 October, 12.45pm – 2pm

Submit motions by 12pm Tuesday 23 September.

If you want to send a motion to one of the following UCU national equality conferences, or for the branch to nominate candidates to the respective equality standing committee, this is the general meeting to propose that to:

  • Women members’ annual conference
  • LGBT+ members’ annual conference
  • Disabled members’ annual conference
  • Black members’ annual conference

This meeting should elect the branch’s congress/conference delegates for the year.

Thursday 13 November, 12.45pm – 2pm

Submit motions by 12pm Tuesday 4 November.

If you want to send a motion to the UCU national migrant members’ annual conference, this is the latest meeting to propose the motion to.

Wednesday 21 January, 12.45pm – 2pm

Submit motions by 12pm Tuesday 13 January.

If you want to send a motion to the:

then this is the latest general meeting to propose the motion to.

Tuesday 3 March, 12.45pm – 2pm

Submit motions by 12pm Tuesday 24 February.

If you want to send a motion to UCU Congress 2026 this is the latest general meeting to propose the motion to.

Thursday 30 April, 12.45pm – 2pm

Submit motions by 12pm Tuesday 21 April.

If you want the branch to propose an amendment to another branch’s motion to UCU Congress 2026, this is the general meeting to submit that motion of amendment to.

Thursday 21 May 12.45pm – 2pm, annual general meeting (AGM)

Submit motions by 12pm Tuesday 5 May.

Deadline for nominations to the branch committee is Wednesday 20 May.

If you want the branch to give advice to branch delegates attending UCU Congress 2026, this is the latest general meeting to do that.

Monday 15 June, 12.45pm – 2pm

Submit motions by 12pm Tuesday 2 June.

The long gap between the motions deadline and the meeting may make this meeting (alongside the AGM) ideal for if you want to propose a rule change motion.

There’s some useful advice on general meetings at Making UCU branch general meetings work better

Parental leave policies and benefits – open meeting

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

UCU is holding an open meeting – for staff at the university whether or not you are a union member – on Tuesday 9 September 12-1pm to find out about parents’ experience of university benefits and support for parents (for example maternity leave, paternity/ partner leave, adoption leave, neonatal care leave, parental leave and shared parental leave).

The UCU University of Leeds branch committee wants to hear about your experience of accessing these benefits.

  • Was it easy to arrange?
  • Was the level of financial support sufficient? 
  • How was your experience of returning to work afterward?
  • Were you turned down for any of these benefits because you hadn’t been an employee for enough time to qualify?

Why are we holding this meeting?

UCU is committed to making the university a family friendly workplace and equalising the pay gaps.  The university is currently reviewing their parental leave benefits as part of a wider policy review and will consult with the trade unions on any new proposals for these benefits.  We will use what you tell us about your experience and views on these benefits to inform our response to proposals.

Who is this meeting for?

People working at the University of Leeds, especially those particularly doing academic, professional or managerial work, who have experience of the university’s parental leave policies and benefits.

How do I sign up for the meeting?

If you’re a UCU member, you’ll have a Zoom invitation in an email on 2 September from UCU University of Leeds <noreply@ucu.org.uk>

If you’re not a UCU member, email ucu@leeds.ac.uk, ideally using your university email, to request the Zoom link.

Resolved problems receiving UCU email (hotmail, outlook.com and live.com)

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

The UCU IT team has fixed the problem that some members of the branch were not receiving UCU emails, particularly if their email was hosted by hotmail, outlook.com or live.com.

The UCU IT team investigated and made changes in early August which appear to have fixed the problem.

If you have any further issues with not receiving email from UCU, please contact ucu@leeds.ac.uk.

Problems receiving UCU email (especially with hotmail, outlook.com and live.com)

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

There seems to be an issue with hotmail, outlook.com and live.com not delivering some UCU emails. It appears to mainly affect emails with attachments, and it doesn’t seem to be consistent. 

UCU’s IT supplier is trying to resolve a problem with the Microsoft subsidiaries, but as yet we don’t know if this is a temporary issue, a fault, or a change to the service provided by those platforms.

There’s a list below of the recent emails from UCU branch officers, so you can see if your email provider is filtering some of them out.

It seems likely this is preventing some UCU members receiving emails from the local UCU University of Leeds branch and also from UCU head office.

The branch officers don’t have a solution yet because the cause of the problem isn’t known yet, but it you already have another email address you can use and if you want to switch to that you can do it using ‘My UCU’ https://www.ucu.org.uk/myucu

HE consultative ballot

If you haven’t received your HE consultative ballot email, see the email version of this post – sent 5.15pm Thursday 31 July 2025 for links to request a replacement ballot, or see the Friday emails from the UCU campaigns team. If you haven’t received any of these email ucu@leeds.ac.uk for advice.

Only “Full” members of the branch are included in this indicative ballot, so if your membership account indicates you don’t do paid work for the university then you shouldn’t have received a ballot email.

Not sure if you’re receiving emails from the UCU branch?

Here’s the recent emails from “UCU University of Leeds” branch which you should have received:

  • Wednesday 16 July: Re. UCU general meeting agenda
  • Friday 18 July: London Trans Pride, 26 July
  • Tuesday 22 July: Vote in UC consultative ballot on pay, conditions, job security is OPEN (…
  • Wednesday 23 July: Response to incidents at graduation
  • Thursday 24 July: Fighting and Winning against Redundancies, Monday 28 July, …
  • Friday 25 July: Open Meeting on Trans Rights

University of Leeds UCU Committee contextual statement: Proscription of ‘Palestine Action’ and the Right to Protest

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

This statement accompanies University of Leeds UCU’s signature on this open letter: https://protestisnotterrorism.wordpress.com/2025/07/14/open-letter-protest-is-not-terrorism-defend-palestine-action-from-proscription/. 


University of Leeds UCU Committee has agreed to sign the open letter opposing the proscription of Palestine Action, alongside over 1300 individual signatories and a number of organisations from across the trade union, academic, and human rights sectors. This is in line with UCU’s national position, as set out in UCU’s recent statement opposing the proscription of Palestine Action, and calling for the protection of democratic freedoms and civil liberties (see: https://www.ucu.org.uk/article/14101/UCU-statement-Stop-authoritarian-attacks-on-the-Palestine-movement). 

This decision reflects our union’s longstanding commitments to: 

  • Defend civil liberties and the right to protest; 
  • Oppose the use of counter-terrorism legislation to suppress political dissent;  
  • Stand in solidarity with those seeking to end the arms trade with Israel, especially in the context of Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank, which have been condemned by a wide range of international human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, UN Special Rapporteurs, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), B’Tselem, and others.  

 We are signing in a political and civil liberties capacity only. This does not constitute material, financial, or operational support for any proscribed organisation, nor does it endorse or encourage any unlawful activity. Our signature to this letter is based on principles of free expression, democratic organising, and peaceful dissent, as protected under the Human Rights Act 1998. 

University of Leeds UCU Committee remains committed to non-violent, democratic campaigning and to opposing war, racism, and repression in all forms. We are proud to stand with others who are challenging the erosion of protest rights and demanding justice and accountability. 

The Yorkshire Feminist Collective march, Saturday 12 July at 12:30 Leeds Art Gallery: One struggle, one fight

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

The Yorkshire Feminist Collective has organised a march on 12 July, starting at 12:30 at Leeds Art Gallery. The theme of the march is One struggle, one fight. Join the collective to march for women’s rights everywhere – for bodily autonomy, access to legal and safe abortion, for trans rights, disabled people’s rights, racial justice and free Palestine. 

You can find more information on their linktree or their accessibility resource pack.

Leeds UCU podcast: campaigns – 4 July 2025

UCU University of Leeds Branch Posted on by

(Year 2 episode 12)

In today’s episode, recorded Thursday 26 June 2025: campaigns officer Anja Komatar on the role of the campaigns officer, and some of the campaigns the branch is involved in internationally and in the workplace.

With Rachel Walls and Anja Komatar.

If you prefer your union branch news direct to your ears, search for LeedsUCU wherever you get your podcasts, and subscribe so you get notified about new episodes. 

See all the episodes and transcripts at https://www.leedsucu.org.uk/about-us/podcast/

To join UCU go to ⁠https://www.ucu.org.uk/join

Direct links to the LeedsUCU podcast 

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2Ht1Iks9WPR6qbmGXXOXfS

Amazon Podcasts https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/1f16de89-30ec-444a-83ac-54bcbe0bcac6/leedsucu-podcast

Pocket Casts https://pca.st/pacoaeqd

Also available on Apple Podcasts

Rachel

Welcome to the Leeds UCU podcast for members of the University of Leeds branch of the University and College Union. In today’s podcast we’ll be speaking with our outgoing campaigns officer Anja about the role, our recent campaigns, and what to do if you’re interested in becoming a campaigns officer in the coming year.

I’m Rachel Walls, your podcast host for today. I’m also a UCU department rep for Lifelong Learning Centre, Branch Committee member and saxophone or clarinet player in our occasional picket line band Orchestrike.

The podcast exists to be a friendly voice from the UCU University of Leeds branch to keep you in better touch with what’s going on, such as what the elected officers are working on and what opportunities there are for you to get involved in UCU discussions, socialising, activism and decision making.

And for today’s podcasts, which we’re recording on the 26th of June 2025, we have Anja Komatar to give us an update on campaigns.

Rachel

So hello, Anja!

Anja

Hi!

Rachel

The first question I thought I’d ask you was what your role has been as an officer? Tell us about that.

Anja

So as a campaigns officer, you really work alongside other officers and alongside members on specific campaigns. I joined the committee and then ran for officers because I wanted to do something and the campaigns officer role is really allowing for a lot of action. There is a campaigns officer role available in the next year, so I’d really encourage you to consider running for it. There will be an election for it to be announced in due course, but just get involved. Join us.

Rachel

Brilliant. Yeah. So we had our AGM not long ago and we elected new officers for the coming year. But there was just that one vacancy because you’re moving on to a different roll out your next year.

Anja

Yes, I’ll be membership officer next year.

Rachel

Excellent. If you listeners are interested in taking on a branch officer role, maybe have a look at our website. And if you want to kind of talk to existing officers about what it’s like, get in touch. The website is leedsucu.org.uk.

Anja

I’m breaking in to our original recording with some updated news. The committee has met on Tuesday 1 July and decided that the nominations for the campaigns officer role will open in September. In the meantime, if you are considering running or if you’d like to find out more about the role, please reach out to us on ucu@leeds.ac.uk You could, for example, chat about it with the current officers. Now back to our original discussion!

Rachel

We’ve had a lot going on and one of the most current campaigns, I suppose, has been to do with Palestine and there’s been a lot a lot over the last year that that members have brought forward and actions that we’ve taken. So could you tell us a bit about that year and what’s happened?

Anja

So this campaign really started before I even joined as a campaigns officer. It started last year in response to our university welcoming someone who’s gone to Israel to fight in the Israeli army and then coming back to university. But over this past this past year, we’ve done a series of events and we’ve had a lot of branch policy dictating us what to do because really what we do as a branch is in response to what our members would like us to do. So at the start of the academic year, we hosted an event Campus Voices [for Palestine] tour. We welcomed a speaker from West Bank, Sundos Hammad, and we heard from a speaker from a Gaza University online about scholasticide about what’s happening in Palestine, specifically in Gaza, but also across West Bank. And then throughout the year, we had a number of workplace days of action. Last year, some of those were joint with the students, and this year we’ve tried all different things. So the latest one we hosted a lunchtime event. It was very relaxing, just a space for people to come along, have a chat and plan what we would like to do to support Palestine. We’ve also regularly been updating members on what the Leeds PSC are doing, so about the weekly marches, about the emergency demos. And in terms of looking a bit broadly, yes, we contribute to the policy of our own branch, but at the UCU Congress, we can also contribute to the national policy. One of our motions at the Congress, was on doing another campus voices tour, and this motion was moved alongside three other motions to do with Palestine. So the national UCU policy has always been pretty strong in support of Palestine and we’ve just strengthened it in response to the world events. And I think it’s important to know that that the person moving those motions at the UCU Congress was our colleague from University of Cambridge, who is from Gaza and he really really urged us to do everything we possibly can to stop the genocide, stop the scholasticide and support our colleagues across Palestine, especially our colleagues in Gaza, who want to rebuild the Gaza universities. He’s called Wesam Amer. And the motions at this year’s Congress relating to Palestine have all passed almost unanimously, at most two people voting against. And there was real sense of unity and UCU standing together to support our colleague.

Rachel

Interesting. Yeah. And in case it’s useful to go back to that, those events, which seems a long time ago now, but it wasn’t an employee of the university, but a chaplain, wasn’t it? Part of an organisation that the university used that that, and there was a lot of upset and concern about from students and from our members and other staff. So yeah, there was quite a response to that wasn’t there at the time.

Anja

Especially because that person was in a pastoral role. So even if we take all the context away, why would we put someone who’s just been engaged in a war in a pastoral role? It was actually concerns were first raised by our Jewish students. They were concerned about the content that that person was posting and about their fellow students being radicalised so. It it’s really been a cross-university response because we care about our students and we care about our staff.

Rachel

Yeah.

Anja

And I think the Union role in it was important, but working alongside everyone else.

Rachel

Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, campaigns is definitely an area where we collaborate with with students often and other staff groups, and we’re going to come onto that, I think, but before that, yeah, is there any more that you wanted to say about how the Palestine campaign links with local issues and things that we’re doing around here?

Anja

Yeah. So really aside from us you know, doing what’s right, standing in solidarity with our colleagues internationally this is an issue that impacts us directly. We want our freedom of expression. We want our academic freedom. Those are really core issues that the Union campaigns about and we’ve seen a lot of attempts at repression and as a Union we’ve come out strongly supporting first and foremost our members, but really all staff, all students at the university upholding what university should be. The other issue linked to this repression is that as a university we’ve been put on a Gulf CAN boycott list of universities, so especially with the upcoming changes outlined in our White Paper that is probably really, really important, because if we look at the past 10 years at University of Leeds, about 10% of our students come from Gulf countries, pretty consistently. Out of the UK universities there’s only one that has more students – the Manchester University – we’re one of only 10 universities on the boycott list.

Rachel

So just explain that a little bit more what the boycott means

Anja

Yeah. So the Gulf CAN is a campaign, a grassroots campaign in the Gulf. They are arguing that while the students, of course might want to come and study in the UK, their students should boycott University of Leeds alongside 9 other universities because of the repression that students are currently experiencing on our campuses. And I’m really concerned about that because if their boycott is successful we could see a significant drop in the student numbers from the Gulf. Which is a big proportion of our students and we would be losing on, you know, the expertise that comes from those students, their unique experiences, but also of course, we would be losing on the money that they would pay in tuition fees. That could have an impact on how university responds to the drop in student numbers.

Rachel

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. That’s a really good point. Quite a concern. OK. So thanks for explaining that. Anything else about the link with local issues before we sort of move on to other campaigns?

Anja

So in addition to what we mentioned, like events and stuff like that as a Union, we can also negotiate with our management. So specifically, when it comes to the boycott that’s being called by the Gulf Can campaign, we’ve been raising that with the management because we’re concerned if the boycott is successful, what will happen. And we’ve brought that up in negotiations with the management we’ve asked for the data on the student numbers so that you know if the boycott is working, we can be forewarned and additionally so the university is aware of what situation we’re in that and they can respond. Especially if one of the issues why we were put on the boycott list is the repression. The curtailment of freedom of expression, that’s something that we hope we could work with university to uphold and, you know, improve our reputation as a university and hopefully be taken off the boycott list.

Rachel

Yeah, really important kind of holding the university to account on that and keeping their focus on that potential issue. So yeah, let’s hope that they listen and respond to that. OK. Well, that that feels like a very present relevant campaign that we’ve all been involved with in lots of ways or a lot of UCU branch members have been, but there’s also lots of other campaigns, isn’t there? And over the years, so many we can’t count, but maybe we could talk about some of the more recent ones to give people a flavour if they’re not aware.

Anja

Yeah. So on one hand, we run campaigns related to specific issues. So in addition to Palestine one of the first campaigns I was aware of as a member of UCU is a campaign on trans issues, because this didn’t start just now. A couple of years back the university tried to just get rid of the trans policy and it was UCU working alongside the staff network and students that really made sure that that doesn’t happen and made sure that our trans staff and students are protected. And of course, this is coming up again now in response to the Supreme Court judgement and in response to the Sussex ruling. Another campaign was about our student Salma al-Shehab. Salma was imprisoned while visiting her family in Saudi Arabia, over some tweets. She has been in prison for a really, really long time and we’ve stood in solidarity with her consistently, and she’s finally been released in February 2025.

Rachel

Yeah.

Anja

I don’t think that’s the end of that story yet because we are hoping that Salma can come to the UK and continue her studies, finish her studies as our student, but we’ve really stood alongside her in solidarity consistently. But on the other hand, there are campaigns that are linked to what we do as a Union. So you know, in the past when we’ve gone on strike, one of the things that needs to happen is we need to get the vote out, we need to make sure our members vote for the ballot, so we call that a ‘get out the vote’ campaign. What I can see coming up in the really near future is our response to the White Paper and we’ve emailed members about our upcoming EGM on 17th of July. So this will really be a place for the members to share the vision that they see for our university and this will really shape how we proceed with the campaign related to it.

Rachel

Hmm, yeah. So the campaigns are very much shaped by our meetings and the motions that people bring to meetings, and these are all ways that members can kind of express themselves and mobilise each other and come up with actions that we can take forward.

Anja

Yeah, exactly. Any successful campaign relies on our members engaging and relies on, you know, us as branch officers being in touch with where our members are and responding to that directly.

Rachel

And we will share the date of that meeting before the end of the podcast so that we can encourage everybody to come along. The e-mail did go out yesterday, so hopefully you can kind of get it in your diary.

Rachel

OK. You mentioned the campaign about Trans rights, which again has become something that’s current and we’re talking about again with university management. Could you tell us the role a union campaign can play as opposed to say the staff network the LGBT staff network getting involved. How does it kind of differ, the different kinds of work that goes on there?

Anja

Yeah. So it’s really, really important that I say everyone has a role to play. It’s really important what the LGBTQ staff network is doing. And it’s important to collaborate with students. The student societies are usually fantastic. Just in terms of the specifics of what we can do as a union we are a body that represents our members. So one of the things we can do is rather than our individual members having to fight the battles themselves, we can take that on as a collective and we can represent our members. But on the other hand, if you are a member and you are facing problems, for example because you are trans, we can support you in individual case work, so you would get a caseworker, who can see what the situation is and ensure that your problems are addressed in the most suitable way possible. Then in some cases, if you do experience discrimination again, for example because of being trans, or this really applies across all the other protected characteristics, you could access legal support through the union, or if it’s related to your job role, you might want to put in a grievance and the union can support you with the potential Employment Tribunal. But then on the other hand, if we look again outside of University of Leeds, UCU University of Leeds, is parts of the big UK wide union UCU. So we can learn a lot from the other branches. We can work with alongside the other branches to push for the issues. And because we’re speaking about the trans rights which the union is really united on in unapologetic support for trans people. So, for example, because of the EHRC guidance that has been released following the Supreme Court ruling, the union has created a trans task force that are looking into supporting our institutions and looking into what legally institutions can do because the EHRC guidance as it came out at the start was not really related to the law and there’s been some confessions made already by the authors in response to the legal challenges by the Good Law project, but nationally, we have a lot of resources, so the trans task force was able to work with the lawyers to really put together a document of well, if you are an institution and you do want to support your trans members, and also obviously you need to be legally compliant, what is it that you can do? I don’t think the document is finished yet, but of course we’ll share it as soon as it is.

Rachel

That’s that sounds great. It’s kind of just power in numbers, isn’t it? And as one of the largest union branches and national union, it’s great that, there can be such connection and the potential of really influencing things because yeah, there are so many people involved and that’s a really interesting example that we look forward to hearing more about. Let’s hope it can help create a better response in institutions across the UK. More positive and reassuring response.

How does the UCU branch decide to take forward a campaign just to hear a bit more about the kind of practicalities of how that works? How can members influence what our branch works on?

Anja

So really, every campaign should be, and hopefully is, a response to what our members would like to see. There are many, many ways of members getting involved, so an easy one to start with is perhaps emailing the branch so that would be ucu@leeds.ac.uk. Of course, we can’t always immediately respond to every e-mail or, you know, run a campaign based on every single e-mail. But if we don’t know what’s happening across the university, then we can’t do it. So please get in touch, let us know, then the next point of engagement and a way to get a few more people on board and informing people what’s going on is if you want to submit a motion to a general meeting, and when you’re thinking about the motion my advice would be really think about what you would ask the branch to do. Because if you give us some really good ideas, like for example. Why don’t we do this specific event where we would hear from interesting people and, you know, bring in more people to understand the specific issue. You know, we’re always really happy to hear what members would like to see and get new ideas. But really we as members are all the union. So if really if you want to influence the branch or if you want to have a say in what happens, the best way is to also offer to do something related to it, so that could be, for example, if you want the branch to put out the statement, you could draft a statement as a suggestion for the branch to have a start.

Rachel

Yeah, absolutely. So. Having a think about those specific outcomes that you feel are important could be really useful, but if you’re not sure how to do that, of course e-mail and ask for help. Or do look at the website because leedsucu.org.uk has a page about how we work together as a union. Which might give you some insights into what you can do, how you could get into a working group or I think there’s some advice about writing motions on there, but I might have imagined that so have a look at the website and you’ll be able to find some useful stuff anyway.

But thanks for explaining that Anja. I’ve kind of jumped the gun a bit because I was gonna ask you how members can get involved in working on branch campaigns, and you’ve mentioned a couple of ways. But I think perhaps so, yeah, maybe we could say a bit more about working groups, what working groups for instance, could they get involved in?

Anja

Yeah. So we’ve mentioned a couple of campaigns today. If you’re interested in the Palestine Campaign, one way that you could get involved is joining the BDS working group. If you’re interested in the trans issues or really disability issues and equalities issues you could join our equalities working group.

So at the start I invited people to consider maybe joining us as a union officer. That’s kind a big commitment: as a campaigns officer, you would get some buyout from your role about 0.1 of full time equivalent to do that union role then the next layer of involvement is as a committee member. As a committee member you’re committing to attending committee meetings one hour every other week, and then sometimes replying over e-mail. And there is getting involved in a working group. Really, you have a chance to get involved on a specific topic and the working group decides how often they will meet and what topics they will work on. And once there is a suggestion or a plan they can pass on that plan to the committee to actually implement or sign off, or they can bring it to the general meeting to get support from our members. But it’s less of a commitment for example, than being on committee or officer, because you’re committing to work on a specific issue of interest for you. But also we know that all of our members have a lot of different expertise, so that could be professional expertise that could be academic expertise and we really want you to help us with that as a branch as we’re just as strong as our members and like I said earlier, we have specific things that we can do like negotiating with the management or getting involved with the national issues but really, as members, you are shaping what the branch is. So we want to hear from you. Come to the meeting. Let us know.

Rachel

Absolutely. And that next meeting responding to the White Paper will be on the 17th of July, 12:45 to 2pm. So we tend to have an hour and a quarter just that seems to be a good amount of time for a meeting. So hopefully you can come to that and listen and input and if you did want to put anything forward for us to consider the deadline for motions is 12pm PM Monday the 7th of July. If you’re not sure how to write a motion, do email ucu@leeds.ac.uk and ask for advice because we don’t want that to be a barrier to anyone. So yeah, have a look. If you forget those details, have a look in your e-mail that that came yesterday, but I’m sure we’ll be emailing a reminder close to the time. OK. Well, I think that’s everything for today. We’ve covered quite a lot and given you’ve given us a really good insight into how campaigns work. Any last thoughts?

Anja

Just, really, get involved!

Rachel

Yeah. Get involved. It would be great to meet new people and have new insights. And I find it a very enjoyable community to be a part of and interesting and insightful and a good way to kind of lead and influence in small or big ways. So those are all kind of great reasons to get involved I think. Right. Well, thank you very much for coming, Anja, we appreciate your time and we look forward to hearing more about the current campaigns as they evolve and when you’re working in your new role as membership officer next year.

Anja

Thanks for hosting Rachel.

Rachel

Cheers.

That’s all for today’s UCU podcast. Thank you for listening. Please subscribe on whatever platform you’re listening to us on so you’ll know as soon as we publish our next episode. If you work at the University of Leeds in an academic or academic related, professional or managerial role, or as post graduate student doing paid teaching and if you’re not yet a member of UCU, head to ucu.org.uk/join to find out more. Wherever you work, make sure you join the union for your work. This this podcast is made on behalf of the Committee of the University and College Union, University of Leeds Branch. If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail our branch officers at ucu@leeds.ac.uk. See our website leeds.ucu.org.uk for alternative contact details and for a transcript of this episode.