Council

Chair of Council
Meri Huws (until 31 July 2027)

• 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 
Redundancy
Remuneration 
Nominations

Deputy Chair of Council

Rhuanedd Richards (until 31 July 2028)

• 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
Remuneration (Chair)

Vice-Chancellor
Professor Jon Timmis

• Is a graduate of Aberystwyth University, having studies Computer Science as an undergraduate and mature student, and then a PhD which he completed in 2000.
• Previously a Lecturer then Senior Lecturer at the University of Kent until 2005; a Reader and Professor at the University of York where Jon was the Head of the Department of Electronic Engineering and then Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Partnerships and Knowledge Exchange until 2019; and Deputy Vice-Chancellor with the Commercial portfolio at the University of Sunderland until December 2023.
• His research is in biologically inspired systems, robotics, computational modelling of biological systems and more recently software engineering for robotics.  He is a previous recipient of a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award and a Royal Academy of Engineering Enterprise Fellowship. 

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

Pro Vice-Chancellor

Professor Angela Hatton

• Took up the role on 1 September 2023. Previously she was the Chief Scientist and Director of Science and Technology at the UK National Oceanography Centre.
• She is currently a member of the Met Office Hadley Centre Science Review Group, the AberInnovation Board, and a core panel member for the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships. She has formerly been Chair of NERC Science Board and the UK’s G7: Future of the Seas and Oceans scientific lead.
• She has been awarded two NERC Fellowships, a Challenger Fellowship and is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology and the Scottish Association for Marine Science, and an honorary Professor at the University of Southampton.

Paul Bevan (until 31 July 2028)

• Paul has worked in education, public, and non-profit sectors for the past 20 years including as Executive Director at Grŵp Llandrillo Menai, an in transformation and leadership roles at Manchester Metropolitan University, the University of Liverpool, and the National Library of Wales.
• He is currently supporting a broad digital change programme for Jisc, the UK’s Education Technology charity, alongside a range of independent and non-profit governance roles including with Citizens Advice Flintshire, Glas Cymru, and as chair of the Electric Vehicle Association Cymru.
• Paul completed both his undergraduate and PhD at Aberystwyth before moving to North East Wales where he is currently based.

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

Kate Eden (until 31 July 2028)

• 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
Nominations

Yusuf Ibrahim (until 31 July 2028)

• Yusuf is currently Vice Principal (Curriculum and Standards) at Cardiff and Vale College and the national lead for the Further Education Anti-Racism Curriculum.
• Born in London, Yusuf has over fifteen years of leadership experience within school and college settings across London, Bristol and Cardiff, developing curriculum and digital teaching solutions.
• An advocate of creating a sustainable and transformative education system in Wales, Yusuf serves as a non-executive director the National Academy of Educational Leadership, providing support on systemic leadership approaches.

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

Daniel Richards (until 31 July 2028)

• Daniel Richards is an independent, non-executive director with +25 years’ experience of corporate and financial professional legal services and +14 years’ experience of senior-level management, strategic project leadership and corporate governance in the UK and internationally.
• Born and raised in South Wales, Daniel studied law at Clare College, Cambridge University and qualified as a solicitor of England & Wales at an international law firm based in the City of London focussed on corporate law, finance and restructuring.
• UK Institute of Directors certificated in corporate governance, Daniel provides institutional governance services in the culture and education sectors, in parallel with a portfolio of academic and personal business interests.

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

Professor Alan Speight (until 31 July 2030)

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

Arwel Thomas (until 31 July 2030)

• 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)

Claire Vaughan (until 31 July 2030)

• 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

Alice Leroy, Llywydd Wellbeing and Liberation (until 30 June 2027)

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

Gwenno Roberts, Llywydd UMCA (until 30 June 2027)

Member of the following committee/s:
Governance and Culture

Professor Sarah Davies (until 31 July 2028)          

• I joined DGES in September 2002 as a lecturer in Physical Geography and Environmental Science. I was appointed Senior Lecturer in October 2008.
• My research focuses on reconstructing climatic and environmental change using evidence from lake sediments. I am particularly interested in the interactions between people, climate and environment over a range of timescales. Most of my work to date has focused on tropical regions such as Mexico and Ethiopia, where I am involved in ongoing projects.
• Closer to home, I also work on sedimentary and historical records of climatic variability and extreme weather and their impacts in Wales and the UK.

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

Dr Aloysius Igboekwu (until 31 July 2028)

• Aloysius is a Senior Lecturer in Finance at Aberystwyth University. His research interests are in the areas of Asset Pricing, Behavioural Finance, Corporate Finance, Market-based Accounting, Financial Markets, International Economics, and Banking.
• He is research-active and has publications in international journals such the Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting. Aloysius has presented his research works in a number of international conferences such as the European Financial Management Association and the British Accounting and Finance Association.
• He is a reviewer for the Journal of Risk Finance. Currently, he is a guest editor for the Qualitative Research in Financial Markets journal. Aloysius is currently working on a series of applications of Gerd Gigerenzer’s concept of “fast and frugal reasoning” within financial markets. Aloysius teaches modules in Investments, Corporate Finance, Financial Theory, Banking, Financial Markets and Institutions. Previously, he taught modules in Business Economics as well as Mathematics and Quantitative Methods for Business and Social Sciences.

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

Kylie Evans (until 31 July 2028)

• 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: