Elections by Congregation: Council (non-divisional constituency) - TT 2024
This constituency is comprised of three members of Congregation, not necessarily being members of any division and not in any case being nominated in a divisional capacity, who shall be elected by Congregation
Contested Election
On Thursday, 6 June 2024, the following member of Congregation was duly elected to Council to hold office until the start of MT 2028:
Professor Geraldine A Johnson, BA Yale MA Camb PhD Harvard, Fellow of Christ Church, Faculty of History (Dept of History of Art)
[The votes recorded were: for Mr Bohdan, 396; Dr Swales, 486; and for Professor Johnson, 689]
This election was contested and the successful candidate determined by electronic ballot (details sent to eligible voters 22 May 2024 using the email address provided in the register of Congregation). All members of Congregation were eligible to vote in this election. Voting closed at 4:00pm, 6 June. Details of nominations and candidate statements are published below: click on the candidate’s name to see the details.
Vacancy
One member of Congregation elected by Congregation not necessarily being a member of any division and not in any case being nominated in a divisional capacity, to serve until the start of MT 2028 [vice Professor Sir Rory Collins, St John’s, Clinical Medicine]
Nominations
Nominations for elections to this constituency are published weekly in the Gazette and on this website as they are received and processed. The details of any nominations received can be seen by clicking on the candidate's surname in any adjacent tabs.
Lukasz Bohdan, MA Exe Mag Jagiellonian MBA Open, UAS (Assurance Direcorate)
Nominated by:
Dr Nandini Gooptu, Acting Warden of St Antony’s, Faculty of History
Professor Sue Dopson, Green Templeton, Faculty of Management
Dr Tracy Gale
Katherine Gardiner
Mr Chris Price, UAS (Medical Sciences Divisional Office)
Professor Gavin Screaton, University, Faculty of Clinical Medicine
Mr Neil Unsworth, UAS (Assurance Directorate)
Professor Geraldine A Johnson, BA Yale MA Camb PhD Harvard, Student of Christ Church, Faculty of History (Dept of History of Art)
Nominated by:
Professor Sarah Foot, Dean of Christ Church, Theology and Religion
Lady Elish Angiolini, Principal of St Hugh’s, Law
Karen Brill, Humanities Divisional Office (UAS)
Professor Sir Rory Collins, St John’s, Clinical Medicine
Professor Fabian Essler
Professor Cécile Fabre, All Souls, Philosophy
Professor Sam Howison, Christ Church, Mathematics
Lucinda Rumsey, Mansfield, English
Professor William Whyte, St John’s, History
Dr Catherine Swales, BSc PhD Lond, BM BCh Oxf, Fellow of St Hilda's, Faculty of Clinical Medicine (School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences)
Nominated by:
Professor Dame Sarah Springman, Principal of St Hilda’s
Professor Richard Cornall, Magdalen, Faculty of Clinical Medicine
Dr Victoria Elliott, Faculty of Social Studies
Professor Helen McShane, Faculty of Clinical Medicine
Professor David Paterson, Merton, Faculty of Physiological Sciences
Professor Jonathan Rees, Pembroke, Faculty of Clinical Medicine
Contested elections
In the event of a contested election, candidate statements will be published in the Gazette and on this website. The details of any candidate's statements received can be seen by clicking on the candidate's surname in any adjacent tabs.
Lukasz Bohdan, MA Exe Mag Jagiellonian MBA Open, UAS (Assurance Direcorate)
Candidate Statement:
I am standing for the Council because I believe that Oxford is at its best when all parts of our community are represented amongst the trustees and take responsibility for the University’s strategic direction. A professional services perspective is currently missing; I trust it would enrichen the Council.
There are challenges ahead – funding, government policy, and international competition to name just a few – but equally there are great opportunities, if we work together and tackle the strategic decisions required with vision, wisdom and pace. We have great strengths to build on – our people, culture of excellence, global reputation, and convening power amongst others. And unrivalled ambition to bring the wealth of our knowledge to bear on the world’s most pressing problems such as climate change, poverty, inequalities and health.
But to remain the world’s number one university and be able to answer when the world calls, we will need to change as an organisation: invest in our people, buildings and systems; improve staff and student experience; be more innovative, and less risk averse; explore new opportunities; achieve sustainability.
I trust my track record of collaborating for the common good and my 25 years of experience as a trustee and board advisor put me in a good position to help Oxford seize the opportunities ahead. I would relish the challenge of shaping Oxford’s future and it would be a privilege to represent my constituency on the Council.
[236 words]
Professor Geraldine A Johnson, BA Yale, MA Camb, PhD Harvard, Student of Christ Church, Faculty of History (Dept of History of Art)
Candidate Statement:
As a member of Council, I will use my wide-ranging experience across the collegiate university to help address the many challenges we face at Oxford. These include the ongoing deterioration of remuneration in higher education, inequalities across Oxford’s departments and colleges, and maintaining a manageable work-life balance. The much-anticipated Review of Pay and Conditions could improve the situation for all staff and even serve as a model for the sector — but only if properly implemented. Other challenges include reassessing our career progression system, improving access to Oxford for graduate students, and the urgency of meeting our net zero targets.
Thanks to my varied roles at Oxford, I will be able to contribute effectively to Council’s work on such issues. I am currently Head of the History of Art Department and have been an Associate Head of Humanities. In my college, I have been Tutor for Admissions and the equivalent of Senior Tutor and Welfare Dean. I helped establish the History of Art BA, set up my college’s Equality and Diversity Committee, and served on Council during the pandemic. This has given me a clear understanding of how things work — and sometimes don’t work — at Oxford.
If elected, I am committed to finding better ways for Council to engage all members of our community in planning for the future. I will also ensure that Council’s high-level policies and decisions are always assessed in terms of their impact on us as individuals, whether we are academics, professional and support staff, or students.
[250 words]
Dr Catherine Swales, BSc PhD Lond, BM BCh Oxf, Fellow of St Hilda's, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Candidate Statement:
As Head of the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (SMBMS), I have an established profile in collaborative strategic leadership, research capacity-building (co-app on >£22 million grant funding), financial planning and educational innovation for students at Oxford and nationally. My experience in Governance and Planning stems from leading SMBMS (comprised of 4 flagship undergraduate courses), the development and co-directorship of new Masters and Doctoral programs within and across Divisions, my position on Medical Schools Council UK and a GMC role as a Quality Assurance Associate on courses (inter)nationally. At College level I am a dedicated member of Governing Body and the Academic Disciplinary Panel, balancing the importance of attention to detail with maintaining perspective, a breadth of vision and drawing others who have been historically under-represented into educational and research narratives. I am leading on the University’s response to Government calls for increasing medical student numbers, and the development of a dedicated Medical Education Training Centre, which will be the first ever capital infrastructure project for clinical training at Oxford. For two decades I have identified key educational and research opportunities, mitigated risk and ‘solved the right problem’, working across systems to unlock new avenues for our students, faculty and professional support staff. All Universities are facing challenging times, with often conflicting drivers both within and beyond individual institutions. On Council I will bring my experiences to help shape Oxford’s responses, future directions and priorities, whilst supporting our most valuable elements: student experience, staff development and world-class academic impact.
[249 words]
General Information about this constituency
This constituency is comprised of three members of Congregation, not necessarily being members of any division and not in any case being nominated in a divisional capacity, who shall be elected by Congregation.
Elections to this constituency does not restrict candidates to members of the faculties in the academic Divisions. This means that all members of Congregation are eligible to stand for election, to nominate a candidate or to vote.
The full term of office is four years (or less, when a by-election is held to fill the residue of the term of office for an elected member who is standing down early).
The terms of reference and membership of Council are set out in Statute IV.
Nominations from a diverse range of Congregation members are encouraged, particularly those from underrepresented groups.
Council is chaired by the Vice-Chancellor and meets on Mondays of Weeks 1, 4 and 9 of each term (Week 8 in Michaelmas term) and in July and September. Meetings begin at 2pm and usually last for 2–3 hours. Members of Council are the University’s charity trustees and have a responsibility for ensuring that Council conducts itself in accordance with accepted standards of behaviour in public life, embracing selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership. They must also play an appropriate part in ensuring that the business of Council is carried out effectively, efficiently and in a manner appropriate for the proper conduct of public business. Key skills include the ability to see issues from all angles, to discuss and question without being adversarial, to accept collective responsibility for decisions and to exercise common sense across a broad range of matters.
Elected members of Council will ordinarily be expected to serve on a small number of other committees (typically between one and three, usually including at least one of the main committees of Council i.e. Education Committee, General Purposes Committee, People Committee, Planning and Resource Allocation Committee, Research & Innovation Committee).
For further information, please contact the Head of Governance.
General Notes
The elections on 6 June 2024 will be conducted electronically.
Nominations
Hard copies of nomination forms will not be processed. Nominations must be made on an official nomination form. Completed nomination forms must be sent as an email attachment to the Elections Office by 4pm on Thursday, 9 May. Please ensure that the nominators listed in section D are also copied into the email when the nomination form is submitted, as this will act as verification of the nomination in lieu of supplying original signatures.
General requirements and eligibility
All candidates are asked to note the general requirements which apply to all committee members, as set out in Council Regulations 14 of 2002 (General Regulations of Council for Committees). Current members seeking re-election are also asked to check for specific restrictions on consecutive service. For further information, please see the eligibility and amendments to nominations sections within the Information about University elections pages of the Elections website.
Candidate’s statement
Candidates are invited to include with their nomination forms a written statement of no more than 250 words, setting out their reasons for standing and qualifications for the office being sought.
Contested elections
In the event of a contested election, the successful candidates will be determined by an electronic ballot. An email with further instructions will be sent to eligible voters on Wednesday, 22 May, using the email addresses provided in the electronic register of Congregation (NB with few exceptions, notably clinical staff, this will be the work address ending ‘ox.ac.uk’). Candidates’ statements will be published online and in the Gazette dated Thursday, 23 May. Voters may wish to read these statements before completing their electronic vote. The voting period will close at 4pm on Thursday, 6 June 2024.
Uncontested elections
If the number of nominations received by the closing date is no more than sufficient to fill the vacancies, the candidates nominated shall be deemed to be duly elected as of the close of the nomination period on Thursday, 9 May. When required, places will be allocated according to academic standing, as defined in Council Regulations 22 of 2002, Part 2: Academic Precedence and Standing. If the number of nominations received by the closing date is less than sufficient to fill the vacancies, those candidates nominated will be deemed elected unopposed, and the remaining vacancies will lapse, in which case, in accordance with the regulations, the places must remain vacant until appointments are made jointly by the Vice-Chancellor and Proctors.
Period of office
All vacancies are with immediate effect unless otherwise stated. In accordance with Congregation Regulations 2 of 2002, in any election where vacancies are to be filled for periods of different length, the elected candidates shall hold office so that the tenure of those who receive more votes shall be longer than that of those who receive fewer votes; but if the election is uncontested or if two candidates receive the same number of votes, the candidate senior in academic standing shall hold office for the longer period.
For further information, please contact the Elections Officer.
Contact the Elections Officer
For further information, please email the Elections Office.
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