Voting for University Council because you can
Employee participation an issue that is not of your interest? On the contrary, your vote directly affects your working environment at Psychology. You know, where you give your best every working day. Three of our colleagues are getting in the race for a spot in the Unversity Council. Take that chance at participation and cast your vote for one of the three staff parties.
The University Council monitors the Executive Board, offers advice and helps decide on important issues that affect you directly. Veronique de Gucht is concerned about workload, as second on the list of Leiden Academic Community (LAC); Anne Urai endorses the LAC party because of her concern for sustainability; Sigrid Zuijderduin sees transparent decision-making in the university's interest for everyone as the leader of Universitair Belang. PhDoc stands up for the interests of PhD students and postdocs.
Leiden Academic Community
Véronique De Gucht has been a member of the university council representing the staff party Leiden Academic Community (LAC) for the past two years. As a researcher and lecturer, she faces the daily challenge of the university's complex governance structure, which impacts her work. Increasing administrative burdens and regulations sometimes lead her to spend more time on bureaucratic tasks than on her actual work. To address this issue, she is running for re-election to the university council, second on LAC's list.
Véronique: 'My focus is strongly on work pressure. This is exacerbated by further flexibility in education and increasing bureaucratisation at our university. The centralisation of support services also contributes to this. The distance to these services has increased, personal support is lacking, and responsibilities are often unclear, resulting in a greater workload.'
Leiden Academic Community
In her research as a neuroscientist, Anne Urai investigates how humans and other animals make decisions in complex environments. Within the complex environment that is our university, she works towards decision-making that does not just serve short-term goals, but also creates an academic community that is future proof – in particular with respect to sustainability.
Anne: 'I want to endorse the Leiden Academic Community and I hope to encourage more people to vote and think about what university participation means to you.'
Universitair Belang
Sigrid Zuijderduin is used to weighing up interests in her work for the Board of Examiners Psychology. She wants to broaden that and stand up for the interests of employees across the university. That is why she responded to an email to run for the university elections. With her managerial interests as a relatively young employee and OBP member, she is the ideal leader for the staff party Universitair Belang.
Sigrid: 'The nice thing about this party is that we not only represent the interests of, for example, PhD students, professors or other academic staff, but also the interests of support and management staff. So we are there for everyone. I would like to work for a fair university, where we have an eye for everyone's interests and where there is transparent decision-making and open communication.' Read more on the Universitair Belang leader Sigrid Zuijderduin and the University elections: these are the staff parties you can vote for