Introducing our THE Awards charity partner for 2017
Cara (the Council for At-Risk Academics) was established in 1933 when academics and scientists in the UK came together to rescue their colleagues in Germany from Nazi persecution. Their mission had two parts – ‘the relief of suffering’ and ‘the defence of learning and science’ – saving the people, but also saving the knowledge in their heads. In the years that followed, many of those rescued contributed enormously to academic life in the UK. Sixteen won Nobel Prizes.
Today, we are facing a surge in applications from academics fleeing from new crises, particularly in the Middle East. Most want to return home when they can, but for now they desperately need help, to find places where they can work and their families can live in safety.
Many have already been rescued. With the generous support of our network of 117 UK universities, and partners elsewhere, we are now managing placements for over 280 academics, with 350 family members. But more applications arrive every week.
Getting people to safety is painstaking work; and we urgently need to raise more funds. £25,000 pa, for example, would cover all the costs of an extra team member, able to manage 25 cases – save 25 families – at a time. And we need more funds for awards too.
When Cara was founded, the generosity of individual academics launched the process that, in six years, rescued some 2000 people. Faced with the highest levels of need since those days, we are looking once again to academics to help save their colleagues who are at risk, by pledging just £20 per annum – £5 per quarter – through our ‘10 x 20’ campaign. Thank you