Dr Joanna de Groot (University of York)

Dr Joanna de Groot (University of York) 

Election address 

I am proud and pleased to stand for election as a Trustee of UCU. As a working academic since the 1970s and a union activist since the 1980s, I want to bring my experience and enthusiasm to that role.  I have taught in all our sectors, primarily in higher education, and my work on our NEC [2008-2024] and as UCU's UK Vice President and President [2014-2018] has enabled me to understand the huge range of issues we deal with. I am an emeritus member of the History Department at York University, and as a member of the York UCU branch executive, (at various times branch President, Vice President, and Secretary), I contribute to our campaigns and negotiations. These include confronting problems of redundancy, precarious working, equalities, workload, and management mistreatment of staff. My involvement in several union and university committees has included work on planning and budgeting relevant to the trustee role.  

My local and UK experience within UCU will enable me to support our union's needs and interests from the position of trustee, which has its own specific responsibilities. Trustees oversee and are responsible for our union's finances, protecting the vital resources that enable us to do our industrial and political work and meet members' needs. As trustee of a York charity and a former FE college governor I understand the need to combine a strong commitment to our aims and activities with care and concern to manage and plan our resources and to budget responsibly. Trustees underpin UCU's work for members with realistic assessments of what is possible, desirable, or risky for continuing that work, thus ensuring effective ongoing support for our members, key committees, officers, and staff in their activities. Trustees use evidence and information to scrutinise spending proposals and test assertions about what is financially possible so that our activists and staff have secure foundations on which to keep doing their work successfully.  

As a UCU trustee I will be proactive as a guarantor of the financial security that enables us to defend pay and conditions, promote equality and inclusion, and campaign for post-compulsory education as a vital public good. I will use my experience dealing with budgets as a trustee elsewhere, as well as my experience working with groups of all views inside UCU to promote and protect our financial well-being and hence our ability to fight for our aims.  This is crucial when we face large problems many of which will take time to solve, requiring thoughtful long-term planning. In line with these aims, I shall be supporting Dyfrig Jones as incoming Vice President.