Cara, the Council for At-Risk Academics, a UK-based charity that rescues academics at risk from persecution, violence, and conflict, has recently reported the rescue of record numbers of Ukrainian academics in the past 18 months.
Working in conjunction with the British Academy’s Researchers at Risk programme, Cara has supported over 210 Ukrainian academics to find places at more than 60 UK universities. The charity, which recently marked its 90th anniversary at the Royal Society, also reported that it is now receiving more requests for help than at any time since the 1930s, with growing global geopolitical instability driving a dramatic increase in the targeting of academics. The majority of appeals are coming from Ukraine, the Middle East, and Sudan, with 170 Cara Fellows from 17 different countries currently in placements at UK universities, including more than 40 from Afghanistan, following the Taliban takeover in 2021.
Founded in 1933 by leading UK academics, scientists, and public figures to support academics fleeing Nazi persecution, Cara provide temporary safe havens for scholars fleeing threats to their intellectual and individual freedom. The charity supports their escape, and often that of their families, helping them to find top academic placements around the UK, facilitating funding, sponsored visas, and other practical measures to enable them to continue their work.
The Communication Group plc supported Cara’s recent announcement with a tailored media campaign, designed to build awareness of their work rescuing Ukrainian, Russian, and Afghan academics, and their broader support for at-risk academics from around the world. Print and online media coverage was secured in a range of target publications, including the Sunday Express (Print), The Herald on Sunday (Print), Daily Express, The National, Times Higher Education, and Research Professional News, to name a few.
