Richmond UCU Candidacy 2024-2025
Chair
Samantha Bracey
(nominated by Shuna Neilson and Lucia Morawska)
I am honoured to stand as a candidate for Richmond UCU Chair. Over the past three years, I have diligently served the Branch as Secretary and before as RIASA Officer, actively engaging in pivotal initiatives aimed at enhancing the welfare and rights of members.
Having assumed the role of Chair in January, I am deeply invested in steering our branch towards greater prosperity and resilience. Through my involvement in various endeavours such as pay negotiations, combatting casualized employment, and advocating to reduce work-related stress, I have demonstrated a commitment to advancing the interests of members.
Leveraging my background in Sports Management, I bring to the table a unique blend of knowledge and expertise in motivation, well-being, and team dynamics, which I have applied with dedication and foresight in my UCU work. Together with our excellent committee, I have spearheaded initiatives that resonate with concerns of our members, workplace stress, workloads, fair contracts; championing the values that define our union.
Our achievements stand as a testament to our collective resolve. I pledge to continue fostering collaboration, advocating for our shared interests, and with your vote, I am confident that together, we can build upon our successes and navigate the challenges ahead with strength and solidarity. Thank you for considering my candidacy.
Secretary Officer
Lucia Morawska
(nominated by Samantha Bracey and Emmanuel Okyere)
For the past 14 years, I’ve been working at Richmond, initially serving as an adjunct for 7 years before transitioning to a full-time faculty position in 2018. Currently, I hold the title of Associate Professor of Social Sciences and Humanities at RIASA, situated on the Leeds campus.
Given my experience within the UCU and my active involvement in various initiatives and negotiations, I am confident in my ability to effectively fulfil the responsibilities of Co-Secretary.
Secretary Officer
Catherine Dille (as co-officer)
(nominated by Samantha Bracey and Lucia Morawska)
Having taught History at Richmond first as an Adjunct lecturer and now on a fractional contract, I joined UCU Richmond after seeing what this newly formed branch was achieving by working together for improved employment conditions. I became Adjunct Officer in 2021 and campaigned for fairer, more secure contracts for Adjuncts, leading to the introduction of the Guaranteed Courses contract, better communication and awareness of the challenges of precarity. I have most recently served as the Branch’s Green Officer with the goal of improving the University’s commitment to sustainability at an institutional level. This January I stepped into the role of Co-Secretary of the Branch and have been advocating for our members in ongoing meetings with the University on a diverse range of issues, including employment contracts, pay scales, working conditions, employee benefits, role profiles and pay and promotion. Concerns relating to Adjunct Faculty and promoting sustainability at the University are very important to me, and I hope to be able to return to the latter in the future, but representing the interests of colleagues is paramount, and I would be happy to fulfil this role with the support of the Branch and its members.
Treasurer
Dr Emmanuel Okyere
(nominated by Samantha Bracey and Lucia Morawska)
I have been working at Richmond for the last 5 years. I am an Assistant Professor of Economics and Mathematics at RIASA, on Leeds campus. I have been Treasurer since Fall 2021. During my time in post, I have already been involved in the drafting of the pay negotiation document specifically helped in gathering data for the document. I am currently part of the UCU team negotiating with senior management on pay and pay scales.
I am very passionate about getting a fair wage for workers and determined to help end the gradual reduction of in our pay. Specifically, workers have lost over 37% (using the RPI index) in pay over the past 5 years.
That is why I hope to be elected again, so I can keep fighting for better pay along with my peers at UCU.
RIASA Officer
Molly Bettie
(nominated by Samantha Bracey and Lucia Morawska)
I’m Molly Bettie, and I’m putting myself forward for the role of RIASA Officer. My background is in media & communications (PhD, University of Leeds), and I’ve been a UCU member since 2012. I have been teaching at RIASA for two academic years now. During my time here, I’ve come to recognise the strengths and weaknesses of RIASA’s position within the larger body of Richmond, American University in London. We are a small group, but with a strong UCU membership. Our status as an academy on a separate campus needs special consideration when it comes to university-wide issues, such as restructuring. We also have many adjunct members of staff teaching on the programme. As an adjunct myself, I understand the concerns and frustrations of precarious employment in higher education, and I want to support UCU’s efforts against casualisation. If elected, I look forward to representing RIASA members’ interests and concerns in our UCU branch.
Equalities Officer
Kandida Purnell
(nominated Martin Brown and Catherine Dille)
Kandida Purnell (Associate Professor of International Relations) has experience working for UCU at University of Aberdeen (2014-2016) and here at Richmond where she has previously fulfilled the Committee role of Health and Safety Officer (2022-2023). If Kandida were to become equalities officer Kandida would prioritise working to further close Richmond’s gender pay gap (currently 5.5%) and focus on advocating for Richmond to introduce a maternity pay scheme in line with sector norms (there is currently no scheme in place meaning Richmond staff and faculty on maternity leave lose their salary completely and live on UK Government provided ‘Statutory Maternity Pay’ (SMP) of £184.03 per week after the first six weeks of their maternity leave). In this role Kandida would also continue UCU Richmond’s work on reducing gender, race, and class-based inequalities by working Richmond’s executive on issues including flexible working, absence management, harassment, equal pay or undertaking equality impact assessments.
Green Officer
Fiona Ffoulkes
(nominated by Catherine Dille and Piola Massarotto)
I believe I could bring my knowledge of ethical and sustainable issues and my enthusiasm for working with others to the role of Green Officer. After teaching Ethical Fashion and Sustainability for several years I realise there are no easy solutions but together we can develop better ways to reduce waste generally and the use of plastics in particular. Thank you for considering my application.
Health and Safety Officer
Martin D. Brown
(nominated by Samantha Bracey and Catherine Dille)
I have been a member of UCU for over 20 years. I’ve been proud to serve on the branch’s executive committee since its inception. Over the years I’ve been both an adjunct lecturer, and a full-time faculty member at Richmond, and have served in several other roles, including the associate Dean of Research and as Faculty Representative, and more recently as Health and Safety Officer. These experiences provide me with a solid foundation upon which to support the work of colleagues across several core issues, especially in our key campaigns tackling stress, inequality, pay related issues and the implementation of the workload model. I would hope to be re-elected as H&S Officer to continue improving our working conditions for all members of the UCU, across both campuses.
Membership/Recruitment Secretary
Shuna Neilson
(nominated by Samantha Bracey and Catherine Dille)
I have been with the Richmond UCU Branch since its formation, first as Equality Officer, and recently as Membership Officer. I have attended UCU workshops, attended and minuted Branch meetings, and campaigned with UCU colleagues for the improvement of conditions for Adjuncts. I have also participated in meetings with RAUL Exec regarding the formation of the new contracts, as well as pay review meetings – and devoted many hours to scanning the relevant paperwork to suggest improvements. With the ongoing changes that RAUL faces, a healthy UCU Branch membership is crucial to give a united voice to all Faculty – and, hopefully, soon also to Staff. I would like to continue in the role of Membership Secretary. I believe that my commitment to increasing Branch membership among Faculty and Staff, together with my organisational expertise, will continue to be helpful in this role, where I would also continue to offer my services to the UCU Exec.