STAR’s Board of Trustees
What is STAR’s Board of Trustees?
STAR’s Board of Trustees is the governing body of STAR as a national charity. The role of the Board of Trustees is to ensure that STAR’s resources are used to pursue the organisations aims and objectives of STAR safely and lawfully.
What do members of the Board do?
The Board of Trustees meets quarterly and it’s responsibilities include translating the aims and objectives of the charity plans of work, maintaining and oversight of STAR’s funds and appointing and managing STAR’s Chief Executive.
Who can be a Trustee?
The majority of Trustees are recruited because they bring specific skills to the Board. In addition 4 places are reserved for members of STAR. If you are interested in joining the Board, or recommending someone you know, please contact the National Support Office to find out more.
Who is on the current Board of Trustees?
Current STAR Trustees are:
Emma Saunders, Acting Chair
Emma’s first involvement with STAR was as a founding member of the Newcastle University group in 1999. After graduation Emma spent 2 years at the Sunderland Asylum Team, before leaving to take an MA in Refugee Studies at the University of East London. Emma has remained in the refugee field, spending time at RAMP, a refugee project in East London, and with the Refugee Women’s Association before starting her present post at the Refugee Assessment and Guidance Unit (RAGU) at London Metropolitan University.
Hannah Ward, Secretary
Hannah is the National Media Officer for the Refugee Council, where she has worked since 2002. She is a volunteer with STAR’s Youth Network and has facilitated a number of workshops at STAR conferences. She has recently returned from six months in France, where she did voluntary work for Forum Refugiés, a refugee organisation based in Lyon. Hannah has also worked for the Children’s Society, Sense, Bloomberg and the BBC.
Sarah Davies, Treasurer
Sarah has a background of working for the Big Lottery Fund and is currently working on a project for the Scottish Youth Parliament. As the charity’s Treasurer, Sarah works closely with STAR’s Chief Executive to ensure STAR remains financially viable and maintains proper financial records. Sarah joined the Glasgow STAR when she was at uni and learnt a lot about refugees. If she were prime minister for the day Sarah would end the use of detention for asylum seekers.
Emily Lomax, Trustee
Emily works for Youth for Development, Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) and has experience of managing young volunteers from all over the world. Prior to this Emily has worked at Volunteering England developing programmes for volunteer managers and as a volunteer for VSO in South Africa. Emily was involved in STAR at Glasgow University and has spent time volunteering with the Association of Visitors to Immigration Detainees.
Jemma Samuels, Trustee
Jemma works for UNIAID, a national charity, which helps students cope with financial hurdles to higher education. Prior to this, Jemma was a student at University College London, where she studied European Social and Political Studies, with a focus on International migration. She didn’t know about STAR then but wished she had and is glad she does now!
Jean-Paul Buhalagarha, Trustee
Jean-Paul is an asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire). He is currently in his second year of Biomedical Sciences, at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. A proactive member of Newcastle STAR since 2003, Jean-Paul organised and coordinated the conversation group in 2004. He has voluntary work experience with: Brighter Futures, the West End Refuge Service (WERS), the African Advice North East (ACANE) and Newcastle Muungano Community Association (NMCA).
Anna Collins, Trustee
Anna is currently interning with the Independent Asylum Commission in a Press and Campaigns role. She was involved with STAR at Edinburgh University whilst taking part on the Global Xchange programme. After studying refugee history at university, which sparked a keen interest in refugees, she has volunteered with Amnesty International Scotland, Manchester Refugee Support Network (MRSN), and Le Petit Chateau, a refugee reception centre in Brussels. She has also worked for a Member of the European Parliament.
Onyeka Igwe, Student Trustee
Onyeka (Onny) has been a STAR member since 2003 when she was an active youth volunteer. Since joining the University of Bristol in 2005 she has been a member of their university group. She is now the campaign coordinator from the Bristol STAR group working on the national and local campaign. Onyeka has researched the representation of asylum seekers and refugees in the British media as well as volunteering with the Independent Asylum Commission.
