Supporting refugees in academia & employment

As we continue to shine a light on the stories of refugees at LSBU and in the local communities around us for Refugee Week 2021, this event will highlight the importance & value of supporting refugees in both academia and employment.

Our Refugee Week activity has also been curated to showcase & raise awareness of the incredible work being done by a range of organisations, locally, nationally & internationally, to improve the lives of refugees and migrants in the UK. During this event, we'll be showcasing two such organisations....

Cara - Council for At-Risk Academics

Cara was founded in 1933 to help German academics who were being persecuted by the Nazis. It has been based at LSBU since 2004. Today Cara works in partnership with a network of over 120 universities in the UK and a growing number abroad to rescue academics around the world who face the threat of arrest, injury or even death as a result of persecution, violence and conflict and get them to safe places where they can continue their work. It also runs regional programmes to support academics who have been forced into local exile, or who are continuing to work on in their own countries despite the risks. Through its two Programmes Cara is currently working with over 500 academics from some 25 countries. We'll be joined by Stephen Wordsworth, Executive Director of Cara, who will be speaking about the importance of supporting academic refugees, & those at risk, in pursuing their careers in academia.

RefuAid

RefuAid support access to language tuition, education, finance and meaningful employment. RefuAid focuses on three key barriers to access for refugees with leave to remain, trying to restart their life in the UK: finance and re-qualification, language tuition and specialist employment advice. Our solutions have proved both sustainable and successful.

We'll also be joined by two of LSBU's own fantastic academics:

• Safia Barikzai, Associate Professor, School of Engineering, LSBU
• Professor Gaim Kibreab, Course Director for Refugee Studies, LSBU

As an educational institution, both academia & employability are fundamentally pivotal to us, what we do & for the future of our staff, students & local community. We believe in access to opportunity and with the theme of Refugee Week 2021 being 'We Cannot Walk Alone', we hope you'll join us to learn more about how we can support refugees & migrants in the UK & beyond.

Provisional programme

5pm - Welcome & virtual housekeeping - Neil Hudson-Basing, Corporate Events Manager, LSBU

5.05pm - Intro & scene setting - Safia Barikzai, Associate Professor, School of Engineering, LSBU

5.10pm – CARA - Stephen Wordsworth, Executive Director, Cara

5.25pm – RefuAid

5.45pm – Panel discussion

6.05pm – Audience Q&A

6.25pm – Closing remarks 

6.30pm – Close

This event will be delivered via Zoom Webinar. The joining instructions will be sent out two days before the event takes place.

You can also see the full list of LSBU's activities for Refugee Week on the following Eventbrite Studio page!