Adam Hansen (Northumbria University)

Adam Hansen (Northumbria University) 

Election address 

You deserve to be at the heart of decision-making in your union. If elected I would work even harder to make sure that happens. Given the threats to jobs and mismanagement in your universities, this has never mattered more. As Chair of a Branch that successfully fought off cuts in 2024, my experience would support your struggles.  

I'm Senior Lecturer in English at Northumbria University and have been honoured to be Branch Chair since 2019, building on my time as Vice Chair, Assistant Secretary, and rep in this large and active post-92 branch.  I have also served on NEC and HEC since summer 2023.  As a member of the national Education Committee, I have been proud to be involved in helping organise the annual Cradle to Grave conference. I have also shared expertise, and learned a lot, by taking an active role in the national Post-92 Steering Committee, and have consistently called for more consultation and engagement with you as members.  

My local experiences, and my interactions with many of you, have taught me lessons that apply at a national level too: we can only win when we work together, and we can only work together when everyone is involved in the choices we make, and the action we take.    

Having seen Northumbria members living through the stress and anxiety of potential redundancy, I know how devastating course closures and job cuts are.  In this fight of our lives, we need to mobilise members, to prioritise and connect local disputes, and to better link branches with national support, so no-one fights alone. What is true locally, and nationally, is also true internationally: we must continue to stand in solidarity with anyone anywhere struggling to access education - and, indeed, to simply survive - in the face of discrimination, brutality, and oppression.  Likewise individual members deserve protection, whatever their struggles: this is why this year I initiated developing a neurodivergence policy at Northumbria, to ensure everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  This follows the work I did in 2021 to protect members' health and safety during the pandemic, by orchestrating one of the biggest ballot turnouts and calls for action seen in any UCU branch, and to win huge improvements in 2022 in parental leave, following a member-led campaign involving charities, experts, and politicians.  

To put front and centre what you as members want, our union must be inclusive, accountable, and diverse. I have worked to consolidate these values in the branch I'm proud to call home, and remain committed to doing the same as a UK-elected NEC member, whether through Branch Delegate Meetings, or other forms of consultation and decision-making.    

Your voice counts, because you are UCU.