Dr Rhian Elinor Keyse (University of Wales Trinity Saint David)

Lecturer in Global Historical Studies, Institute of Education and Humanities, University of Wales Trinity Saint David 

Election address 

We all need a strong, member-led union that can win on pay, conditions, and jobs. The latest JNCHES ballot result is not an argument for giving up on defending jobs, dignified conditions, or fair pay; it is an argument for organising well. We cannot fix turnout from the top down, or by blaming members or reps.  To rebuild trust and turnout, we need strategy decided by members and serious support for branches. I ask for your vote to continue representing members' interests on NEC at this crucial juncture.  

Rampant casualisation, spiralling workloads, massive redundancies, and emboldened managerialism harm all members. Members deserve better than this. I am a working-class, disabled, queer woman and a survivor of gender-based violence. I secured a permanent position after over ten years on insecure contracts and know first-hand how precarity intersects with other forms of oppression.  

I am a committed local and national UCU activist and currently serve on the Conduct of Members Committee.  I have served on the Anti-Casualisation Committee (including as co-chair) and the Climate and Ecological Emergency Committee, alongside my branch committee. I was Branch Secretary at Birkbeck and Anti-Casualisation Officer and Vice-President at Exeter, where I authored the anti-casualisation claim and co-founded the Anti-Casualisation Network. As co-chair of the Anti-Casualisation Committee, I campaigned for recognising PGRs as staff and led cross-sectoral organising events.  

I am a staunch proponent of democracy in UCU and am not a member of any faction.  I supported the implementation of hybrid Congress to widen members' access to union policymaking. I believe the NEC exists to serve members and should be accountable to them. I have brought NEC motions for increased transparency, including the publication of voting records and papers for members' scrutiny. If re-elected, I will continue to push for these changes.   

I have campaigned against casualisation, for strong action against redundancies, and for UCU to treat its own workers fairly. I will prioritise building coordinated national action against redundancies and workload intensification; ensuring anti-casualisation is central to bargaining; and embedding equality, disability justice, and migrant justice in our industrial strategy, not tacking them on as afterthoughts.  

I am a founding member of UCU Members for Ukraine, and I stand against genocide in Palestine. I am a strong advocate against gendered discrimination within our workplaces and union, bringing motions in support of members experiencing gendered violence, pushing for UCU to improve its complaints procedures to ensure a more trauma-informed approach, and advocating that UCU implements its own policies.  With the 1752 Group, I created a toolkit for branches aiming to end violence and harassment against education staff and students.  I stand in unequivocal solidarity with trans and non-binary comrades, women of colour, and migrant members.