The one before Christmas

One of the challenges of having a cross-union Trades Union Side role at UKRI is the sheer size of the organisation and being as transparent as I can for members and colleagues in what I'm doing to represent their interests. This is the first in a (roughly) weekly series where I'll note as much as I can say publicly about what I'm doing and what's going on across UKRI.

This week, as UKRI TUS Secretary, I:

• With our TUS Chair, met with Sir Ian Chapman (UKRI CEO), Gemma Bailey (UKRI CPO), Tom Adeyoola (Exec Chair of Innovate UK), and Keith Zimmerman (STFC COO) at Caxton House on Monday morning, for 90 minutes. We talked about 'UKRI Reform', in the broadest sense; there's no concrete information to share openly, but it's clear that big change is on the way from 2026.
• Took part in a Prospect 'Virtual Round Table' of STEM & Environment — related branches, and reps; planning some campaigning around sustainable and resilient funding for research and innovation. Much more on this to come in 2026.
• Met with UKRI commercial colleagues to discuss the ongoing impacts of the reduction in GPC cards. It's clear this is still creating problems for members; all at the meeting agreed on the importance that colleagues shouldn't ever have to pay for things out of their pockets. I'm keen to hear from anyone who's still having difficulties created by the GPC changes, to help you find fixes.
• Had a regular meeting with reps across STFC to go over the transformation programme, and the progress being made in each workstream.