Council

Chair of Council
Meri Huws (until 30 April 2026)

• Until April 2019, Meri was the Welsh Language Commissioner, a role which she held from April 2012. She was Chairman of the Welsh Language Board from 2004 until the Board was abolished in March 2012.
• An AU graduate in Law and Politics, she previously was a Pro Vice-Chancellor at the University of Wales Trinity St David and Bangor University.

Member of the following committee/s:
Governance and Culture (Chair)
Redundancy (Chair)
Remuneration (Chair)
Nominations

Vice-Chancellor
Professor Jon Timmis

Member of the following committees:
Governance and Culture
Resources and Performance
Investments
Nominations

Pro Vice-Chancellor
Professor Tim Woods BA MA PhD (until 31 July 2026)

• Professor Tim Woods emigrated to the UK from South Africa in the late 1970s with his family.  He completed his BA, MA and PhD degrees in English Literature at the universities of Bristol and Southampton.
• After lecturing at the University of Winchester, he was first appointed Lecturer in English Literature and American Studies at Aberystwyth University in 1990.
• He was subsequently awarded a personal chair in 2003 and appointed Head of the Department of English and Creative Writing between 2002-2007. He has since been Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities before his appointment as Pro Vice-Chancellor in 2018.
• He has participated in REF and TEF panels, held roles with Advance HE and the QAA, and currently sits on the QAA Board representing UnisWales. He Chairs the QAA Wales Strategic Advisory Committee.

Ellen ap Gwynn (until 31 July 2024)

• Ellen was the first woman to have led Ceredigion County Council and served as Leader 2012-2022 and as Leader of the Opposition and of the Plaid Cymru Group on the Council 2006-2022. She led on the establishment of the Growing Mid Wales Partnership and as Chair of the Board was a signatory of the £110m Mid Wales Growth Deal.
• A spokesperson on Equalities and Ageing Well, Language and Education on behalf of the Welsh Local Government Association she also represented the Association on the  Partnership Council of Wales with Welsh Government.
• Born in Scotland and brought up in Borth-y-gest near Porthmadog, Gwynedd, she graduated in Education and received a PGCE from UCW Aberystwyth.

Member of the following committee/s:
Resources and Performance

Kate Eden (until 31 July 2024)

• Kate Eden is a non-executive director who has over fifteen years of experience at senior management level both in the UK and internationally.
• Ms Eden was born and brought up in North Wales. She studied social and political sciences at King’s College, Cambridge.
• Her expertise in public affairs, policy and strategic communications was gained largely in the pharmaceutical sector. Ms Eden has also worked on energy and science policy.

Member of the following committee/s:
Resources and Performance (Chair)
Investments

Professor Simon Green (until 31 July 2025)

• Simon is Professor of Politics and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Aston University, where he has also served as Executive Dean of Languages and Social Sciences
• His academic interests are in German and European Politics. He was educated at the Universities of Manchester, Heidelberg and Birmingham
• Simon is a member of the Executive Management Group of Midlands Innovation and is also active in British-German relations

Member of the following committee/s:
Audit Risk and Assurance
Redundancy
Nominations

Rhuanedd Richards (until 31 July 2024)

• Originally from the Cynon Valley, Rhuanedd Richards studied at Aberystwyth University and was awarded a BBC scholarship to study in Cardiff University’s School of Journalism. After finished her degree at Cardiff, she started her career with BBC Wales as a journalist before presenting some of its flagship news and political programmes.
• She left the BBC in 2007 and worked in and around the National Assembly for Wales as a special advisor to the Welsh Government, chief executive of Plaid Cymru and latterly as a policy advisor for the National Assembly’s Presiding Officer.
• Ms Richards began her current role as National Director of BBC Wales in 2021 and was previously Editor of BBC Radio Cymru and Cymru Fyw.

Member of the following committee/s:
Resources and Performance
Redundancy

Arwel Thomas (until 31 July 2026)

• A qualified accountant and retired in 2013.  Arwel’s early career was spent working for British Coal.  He left shortly before it was privatized in 1994.  He then joined the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales as an auditor and subsequently as a Senior Audit Manager.
• In 2008, Arwel joined the Welsh government as Head of Governance and Risk Assurance. Following his retirement Arwel had taken on a number of non-executive roles: Non-Executive Director at Estyn and Independent member of the Audit, Risk and Assurance Committees for the Arts Council for Wales and the Children’s Commissioner for Wales.

Member of the following committee/s:
Audit, Risk and Assurance
Resources and Performance

Mark Tweed (until 31 December 2026)

• Mark is currently Group Chief Financial Officer, Director and Head of Legal at Propel Finance. Previously, he was Deputy CFO & Interim Head of Legal for Opel Vauxhall Finance (OVF).
• A graduate in Industrial Chemistry from Cardiff University, Mark is also an independent Board Member of the Welsh Sports Association.
• Prior to becoming a member of the University’s Council, he served as an independent member on the Resources and Performance, and Investments committees.

Member of the following committee/s:
Audit, Risk and Assurance (Chair)

Jane Usherwood (until 31 March 2024)

Claire Vaughan (until 31 July 2026)

• Claire is currently the Director of People & Culture at well known, national first aid charity St John Ambulance, which she joined in April 2022 following seven years as Executive Director of Workforce & OD at the Welsh Ambulance Service.

• She has over 20 years’ experience leading on and delivering sustainable culture and service change in the voluntary, health, education and other sectors and in national roles, and has led many of her teams to award-winning success.  

Member of the following committee/s:
Governance and Culture
Remuneration

Bayanda Vundamina, Union President (until 30 June 2024)

• Bayanda is the Students’ Union President, acting as a voice for students and working on policies that matter to the student body and community.

• Prior to this, Bayanda studied their Undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at Aberystwyth University.  

Member of the following committee/s:
Remuneration
Resources and Performance
Nominations

Elain Gwynedd, UMCA President (until 30 June 2024)

• Elain is the voice for Welsh culture & Welsh language students in Aberystwyth. Her role focuses on promoting Welsh culture giving Aber students the opportunity to learn, speak and live the language.

• Prior to this, Elain studied their Undergraduate degree in Welsh at Aberystwyth University. 

Member of the following committee/s:
Governance and Culture

Louise Marshall (until 31 July 2024)

• Head of Department of English and Creative Writing.
• Reader in Restoration and Eighteenth-Century Literature.
• Research interests in theatre, theatrical families, and the representation of national identity.

Member of the following committee/s:
Governance and Culture
Redundancy

Professor Reyer Zwiggelaar (until 31 July 2024)

• Reyer was born in The Netherlands and moved to the UK to obtain a PhD at UCL in 1993. Since then he has concentrated on research and the provision of postgraduate teaching. His research (group) concentrates on biometrics and the analysis of cancer in medical images, especially breast and prostate cancer. Initially he concentrated on postgraduate research (PhD/MPhil/MRes) students, but as Head of the Graduate School he is also responsible for the taught postgraduate (Masters/etc.) students.
• He has published over 250 papers, won research awards totalling over £4m, and is an Associate Editor of IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics and Associate Editor of Pattern Recognition. He is the Director of Research for IMPACS.
• Reyer is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Member of the following committee/s:
Resources and Performance
Remuneration

Kylie Evans (until 31 July 2024)

• Born and bred in Aberystwyth, Kylie attended Penglais Comprehensive School. Joining the University in 1994, she has worked in the areas of Admissions, Recruitment and Marketing.  Her current role is Head of Admissions Operations in Global Marketing and Student Recruitment.
• Kylie is studying for a PgCert in Higher Education Administration, Management and Leadership, run by the Association of University Administrators and Nottingham Trent University, and is a committee member of the AU Admin Forum.

Member of the following committee/s:
Redundancy
Nominations