In 1933, 41 leading academics, scientists and public figures in the UK launched what is known today as Cara – the Council for At-Risk Academics – as a rescue mission for their colleagues in Nazi Germany. They defined their task as ‘the relief of suffering and the defence of learning and science’. Hundreds were saved.
Over 90 years later, many university researchers and teachers around the world are again in great danger. Their institutions are being destroyed by invading forces or warring militias, and the people who work in them face injury or death. Authoritarian leaders and extremist groups try to force free-thinking scholars into silence with threats of imprisonment, injury or murder. Women are being blocked from higher education altogether just because they are women. And individuals are targeted for a wide range of personal reasons, including their ethnicity, religion or sexuality.
In the last three years in particular, crisis has been piled upon crisis – Afghanistan, Ukraine, Sudan and now Gaza. The number of applications we have received over that period has surged by nearly 400% compared to the three years before.
To cope, we have had to double the size of our Fellowship Programme team, from seven to fourteen. Last year our University Network partners hosted over 220 ‘Cara Fellows’, and at any given time we are now working on over 160 new applications. This is a complex and painstaking task; thankfully, and in good measure due to the experience of our team, the process ends well, with safe arrivals.
In the face of these challenges, the response of the UK higher education and research sectors, and the individuals who work in them, has been rapid and generous. But still more is needed.
So, if you can, please join the hundreds of your colleagues who already contribute regularly to support our work and give what you can here: https://bit.ly/CaraGv.
Cara's annual report 2023–24: https://bit.ly/CAR2023-2024
Watch our Fellowship Programme video to hear Cara Fellows from Afghanistan, Ukraine and Syria tell their stories and speakers from Durham and Edinburgh explain why their universities support Cara’s work: