Governance Services Team
The Governance Services Team, which is part of the Office of the Senior Vice-President and Registrar and Secretary, oversee the coordination and running of Council, Senate and other senior committees.
Dr Jeremy Diaper
Jeremy Diaper is the Director of Governance Services.
Dr Jeremy Diaper joined the University of Exeter in January 2023 as Assistant Director (Governance). In this role, he is responsible for providing strategic governance advice and works closely with the Chair of Council and the Senior Vice-President and Registrar & Secretary to ensure effective management and support for the business of the University’s governing body and its committees. He acts as Deputy Secretary to Council and Senate and is designated formal Secretary to all Council committees, including: Audit and Risk Committee, Financial and Investment Committee, Governance and Nominations Committee, Research and Innovation Committee, and Remuneration Committee.
In addition to acting as Head of the University Committee Secretariat, he is also responsible for the management and oversight of the University’s institutional governance arrangements and ensuring compliance with the University’s articles of governance, the Office for Students Regulatory Framework and the CUC Higher Education Code.
Prior to joining Exeter, he gained over 10 years’ experience in the UK Higher Education Sector across a range of institutions, including: Birmingham, Durham and Canterbury Christ Church University.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and holds a PhD, MPhil and First Class (BA Hons) in English Literature from the University of Birmingham. He has also published numerous articles on T. S. Eliot and Environmental Modernism and is the author of T. S. Eliot and Organicism (2018) and editor of Eco-Modernism: Ecology, Environment and Nature in Literary Modernism (2023).
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Sarah Hicks
Deputy Head of Governance Services
Sarah Hicks joined the University of Exeter in March 2025 as Deputy Head of Governance Services.
In this role, Sarah is responsible for supporting the Assistant Director (Governance) in delivering high quality secretarial services to Council committees, ensuring best practice governance principles are applied and relevant processes are in place to ensure effective and efficient governance across Council committees. In addition, Sarah provides secretarial support for the Audit & Risk Committee and Finance & Investment Committee.
Sarah is an experienced governance professional with over 15 years’ experience providing advice, support and training for school and academy governance boards. Sarah is a Chartered Manager and a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, and holds an MBA in Strategic Leadership from the University of Portsmouth, MSc in Defence Systems Engineering from University College London and a First Class BEng (Hons) in Electronic Engineering from the University of York.
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Esther Apsey
Senior Governance Officer
Esther Apsey joined the University of Exeter in September 2021 as a member of the Strategic Planning Team, supporting the choreography of the institutional strategic planning process.
She joined the Governance Services team in January 2025 as Senior Governance Officer. Esther works at the intersection of Governance and Executive teams, specifically supporting University Executive Board and Council, Research & Innovation Sub Committee and Governance & Nominations Committees.
Esther has worked within the education sector for most of her career, from teaching to managing government funded youth projects. She holds a Prince2 Project Management qualification, PGCE in teaching (Enfield) and BMus (Hons) from Manchester University.
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Totty Brobyn
Governance Services Administrator
Totty Brobyn joined the University in 2012 as a PA within the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences before becoming an Executive PA to a number of Deputy Vice-Chancellors in the Executive Suite. She moved to her current position in 2017.
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