Contact information and Committee Network roles that are public facing Contacts If you have any questions about the Network or are interested in becoming a member, please: Email: staffpridenetwork@ed.ac.uk Twitter: https://twitter.com/UoEStaffPride Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UoEStaffPride Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uoestaffpride Staff Pride Network Committee The Network Committee consists of the following roles and their office bearers: Co-chairs (x2) Katie Nicoll Baines Alex Morzeria-Davis she/her they/them Deputy Co-chair Nadir Junco he/him Treasurer Alain Kemp he/him Bi+ Rep Kate Davison she/her Social and Events Officer Jonathan MacBride he/him Trans and Non-Binary Rep Merlin Seller she/her Research Officer Mariya Levitanus she/her Committee Meeting Secretary Derek Williams he/him/his Union Rep Gina Gwenffrewi she/her Committee Bios Katie Nicoll Baines, Co-Chair (she/her) - Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager, Future Leaders Fellows Development, Institute of Academic Development. Katie has been working at he University of Edinburgh since 2017 and took on the role of Co-Chair in 2019. She has an academic background in human genetics and data analytics, and is a passionate advocate for LGBTQ+ visibility in STEM through her involvement with The STEM Village. She is also a proud feminist with experience in activism and campaigning for equal rights for all women and marginalised genders. Alex Morzeria-Davis, Co-Chair (they/them) - IT Supply Coordinator, IT Infrastructure, Information Services Group. Alex joined the University first as a student in 2018, and became a staff member in 2021 in ISG. Now graduated with MA French and Italian, Alex works full time in IT procurement. An activist throughout their student career, Alex joined the Staff Pride Network as Co-Chair in 2023 to champion LGBTQ+ students and staff, especially trans/non-binary people and people of ethnic minorities who are currently under the most pressure at UoE. Nadir Junco, Deputy Co-Chair (he/him) - I have worked at Moray House since 2019, first in the Teaching Office and now in Moray House Library. Both as a UoE student and staff member, I have benefitted immensely from the support and community provided by the Staff Pride Network. I took on my initial volunteering role as a merchandise co-ordinator to maintain and expand the visibility of LGBT+ and allied staff. As Deputy Co-Chair, I strive to champion LGBT+ colleagues and students with a focus on intersecting marginalised identities, being a queer immigrant of colour myself. In my free time I enjoy learning British Sign Language, running and baking. Alain Kemp, Treasurer (he/him) - Laboratory manager at the Edinburgh Cancer Research UK Centre, Institute of Genetics and Cancer. I joined the University of Edinburgh as a research assistant in 2012. I enjoy facilitating other people's research, helping to resolve their experimental issues while keeping them safe, which led to my current post as lab manager, assisting a dozen research groups in ECRC. Having witnessed how management decisions can negatively affect close LGBT+ colleagues and friends, I have become determined to boost awareness of LGBT+ issues and advocate equality, diversity, inclusion and intersectionality. In my spare time, I am a bookworm, gin fiend and using my green thumb to cultivate a number of Bonsai. I am also an avid PC and board gamer, co-organising the board games group at the Institute of Genetics and Cancer. Kate Davison, Bi+ Rep. (she/her) - Bio and photo to follow Jonathan MacBride, Social & Events Officer (he/him) – In my University Informatics Graduate School role, I support PGR students through their early career research journey. I organise SPN events to highlight our diversity, bring visibility to all of our incredible LGBTQ+ communities, our intersections and our issues. In my other life I am a squash competitor, qualified coach, referee, World OutGames Squash Gold Medallist x 2, represented Ulster at junior and senior level. Passionate about EDI and its intersections, two decades of LGBTQ+ activism have taken me from Staff Pride Network founding Co-Chair and LGBT Health & Wellbeing Director to current roles as Pride Edinburgh Community Engagement Director, Edinburgh Curveballs Chair and Scottish Squash Diversity & Inclusion External Working Group member. Proud husband to a husband. Secondary carer. Merlin Seller, Trans & Non-Binary Rep. (she/her) - I am a Lecturer in Design & Screen Cultures, teaching theory and historical/cultural context at Edinburgh College of Art, and Course Organiser for Introduction to Queer Studies. I'm a co-founder of the Game Worlds research cluster, part of the Centre of Data, Culture and Society, and occasionally poke at my arts practice of Sci-Fi comics and abstract painting/mixed-media. I obtained my Masters from Oxford and PhD from UEA in Visual Cultural Studies and Art History respectively, and I've since migrated to Game Studies and Film Studies with an interests in (Post-) Phenomenology, Horror, and queering the nonhuman in new media. I am a proudly pansexual and transfeminine academic, and hope to be a visible and supporting trans* presence for trans and non-binary students and staff. Outside of work I f(l)ial at gardening, walk/draw my dog and play all the videogames. Mariya Levitanus, Research Officer (she/her) - - Mariya is a Lecturer in Counselling and Psychotherapy at the School of Health in Social Sciences. She received her Doctorate from the University of Edinburgh in 2020. Her research focuses on everyday life of queer people in Kazakhstan, queer emigration and activism in Central Asia. Mariya's work foregrounds queer lived experiences, examining how the socio-political context shapes the everyday life in authoritarian regimes. In her work, professional practice and as a member of Staff Pride Network committee, Mariya aims to contribute meaningfully to the queer community. Derek Williams, Committee Meeting Secretary (he/him/his) - I am a native New Zealander, with Scottish and Irish parentage. After a long career in Australia as a teacher, composer, conductor, arranger, record producer and outspoken LGBT+ activist in education, I immigrated to Scotland in 2006 to realise my dream of writing a full-scale opera about the life of Oscar Wilde, for which I was awarded a PhD in Music Composition in 2012. My other work crosses the genres of classical, jazz, and pop and has been performed at the Royal Albert Hall and Garrick Theatre (London), Sydney Opera House, as well as in New York and Rome. I have 27 IMDb film and television credits, and 33 Discogs album recording credits. I joined Staff Pride Network upon its reformation in 2016 and I have been delighted by its sustained growth. My current interest lies in collaboration internationally with other university LGBT+ groups, particularly in countries where homosexuality is still criminalised. Gina Gwenffrewi, Union Rep. (she/her) - Biog and photo to follow This article was published on 2024-03-06
