STAR National Office
STAR is a network of independently constituted student union societies which affiliate into the national STAR network. This network is co-ordinated and financed by the STAR national charity. Each STAR group is a member of this charity and makes decisions about its management and direction by voting at the Annual General Meeting and getting involved in consultations throughout the year.
What does the national team do?
The STAR national team do all sorts of things to help STAR members improve the lives of refugees in the UK including:
- Organise big events such as the annual conference
- Provide free training for members e.g. asylum issues, child protection, recruiting volunteers
- Make and distribute STAR branded resources
- Help set up new STAR groups
- Help with committee handovers and freshers events
- Host the STAR website
- Support volunteering projects
- Organise national campaigns
The STAR national team has offices in Bethnal Green and STAR members are very welcome to pop in and say hi or book the space for their meetings.
Who works for the national team?
Emma Williams, Chief Executive
Emma joined STAR as Chief Executive in June 2008. She has been working with refugees in the UK since 1995; first as coordinator of a Vietnamese refugee community organisation in East London and since 2000 as National Development Manager at the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture. Emma has overall responsibility for the management of the charity and leads on agreeing policy, setting up new work and fundraising.
Emily Crowley, Volunteering Project Co-ordinator
Emily joined STAR in October 2009. She has been working in the voluntary sector since 2002 for organisations including, the Glasgow Volunteer Centre, North Glasgow Community Food Institutive and Mind. She has been working on refugee projects for about three years and she also has an MA in Communities, Organisations and Social Change which focused on Refugee Studies. Emily’s role is to support STAR volunteering projects. This includes giving advice on volunteering issues, skills sharing, training and trouble-shooting.
James Fisher, Student Network Co-ordinator
James joined STAR in September 2008 after finishing his masters in Political Philosophy at York. James was Co-President of Warwick STAR during 2005/06 before completing a 10-month internship as Campaigns Co-ordinator at the national support office in 2006/07. James’ role is primarily to provide support to student groups by distributing resources, offering advice and information on running a STAR group and facilitating communication and skills-sharing between groups.
Kevin Dunbar, Finance and Admin Manager
Kevin joined STAR in January 2009 as the Finance Administrator. He graduated from the University of Victoria in Canada where he studied International Business. Kevin spent the last year working with VSO, co-ordinating a peace building and child rights’ project in rural Uganda. His main role in the STAR team is to develop administrative and finance systems for the national team, as well as provide assistance to keep the office running smoothly.
