Adam Hansen (Northumbria University)

Adam Hansen (Northumbria University)

Election address

You should be at the heart of decision-making in your union. If elected I would work even harder to ensure that. Given the mismanagement in all our universities, this has never mattered more. As Chair of a Branch that successfully fought off redundancies in 2024, and has campaigned against course closures and cost-cutting, my experience would support your struggles. 

I'm Senior Lecturer in English at Northumbria University and have been proud to be Branch Chair since 2019, building on my time as Vice Chair, Assistant Secretary, and rep in this large, growing, and active post-92 branch. I also served on NEC and HEC from 2023-25, and have just become NE Regional Secretary. As a member of the national Education Committee, I was involved in helping organise the annual Cradle to Grave conference. I have also learned a lot by participating in the national Post-92 Steering Committee, consistently calling 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 win when we work together, and we work together best when everyone is involved in the choices we make, and the action we take. 

Having seen Northumbria members and comrades in our region living through the stress and anxiety of redundancy, I know how devastating course closures and job cuts are. In this fight of our lives, we need to mobilise members, connect local disputes, and link branches better with national support, so no-one fights alone. What is true locally, regionally, and nationally, is also true internationally: we must continue to stand in solidarity with all those struggling to access education - and, indeed, to simply survive - in the face of discrimination, brutality, and genocidal oppression. Likewise individual members deserve collective protection, whatever their struggles: during the pandemic we orchestrated one of the biggest ballot turnouts and calls for action in any UCU branch, and in 2022 won huge improvements in parental leave, following a member-led campaign involving charities, experts, and politicians. 

This only happens when UCU puts front and centre what you as members want. To do this, UCU must be inclusive and accountable. I work to maintain these values in my branch and region, and remain committed to doing so on NEC, through diverse forms of consultation and decision-making. 

Your voice counts, because you are UCU.