Job Vacancies

Executive Director

The current postholder will retire shortly and we are seeking to appoint a highly qualified and experienced candidate to the Executive Directorship in March 2012. This is an exciting opportunity to take on a major role in the university, NGO, refugee and charity sectors. This full-time post is based in offices in South London (although national and international travel may be required).  The successful candidate is likely to be an ‘all rounder’ with strong management, governance, HR, communications and development, financial and leadership qualities.

The Post

The Executive Director is the Chief Executive Officer of CARA reporting to the Chair (and to the President and Council), usually through the Finance and General Purposes Committee (F&GPC).  He or she is responsible for the work of the organization, within the Strategic Plan and guidelines set by the F&GPC and Council, and in compliance with Charity Commission regulations.

The Role of CARA

CARA was founded (originally as the Academic Assistance Committee and later the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning) in 1933 by Lord (then Sir William) Beveridge and others as a response to Hitler’s closure of German universities to Jews and others. The aim was initially to ensure that scientific talents would not be lost to the world, and later to save lives.

The role of CARA has historically been to provide assistance and financial support to endangered academics (and often their families) who have fled to Britain. Most recently, financial support, together with careers advice and counselling has been provided through the work of the CARA Allocations Committee and has concentrated on those academics who have been able to obtain refugee status or Indefinite Leave to Remain in the UK.  But there have always been other exceptional cases who required urgent and often temporary help to escape for a time from an impossible situation.

Currently exiles are also being helped to complete Masters and PhD degrees,often with the generous cooperation and support of CARA’s University Network of over 70 member institutions, to give them useful qualifications when they are able to return home.

In the last six years, initially in response to the targeted attacks on academics and doctors in Iraq, CARA has broadened this approach to include assistance overseas and has, to some extent, returned to our early goal of ‘protecting science and learning’. An office has been set up in Jordan to help Iraqi academics who had to flee their country but were not able to obtain visas for the UK. Fellowships and projects have been initiated for them in collaboration with partners such as UNESCO and UNICEF, and in partnership with academics still remaining in Iraq and desperate for academic contacts outside the country.  This has led to a very successful Iraq Research Fellowship Programme which will continue into 2013. In the light of this successful venture, similar collaborative programmes have begun in South Africa and the UK to assist displaced academics in Zimbabwe as well as outside the country.

Advocacy

Advocacy is part of CARA’s mission, working through events, publications and lobbying, together with sister organisations in the Netherlands, France and the United States, and including work with local organisations around the world to uphold the values of Academic Freedom.

Resources

The turnover of CARA in 2011 was around £1.2M, a rapid increase from £75,000 in 1999.

CARA is supported by a small endowment but needs to raise most of its income from annual or multi-annual grants and donations.  The Executive Secretary is responsible for financial, risk and facilities management, working within a  budget submitted annually to the F&GPC for approval and within agreed guidelines and regulations.  The CARA Office currently consists of 8 staff, 4 interns and 3 volunteers. The Executive Director will effectively manage the human resources of the organisation according to personnel policies and procedures that fully conform to current regulations.

Working with the F&GPC and Council (and the recently formed President’s Committee) the  Executive Director will be responsible for identifying resource requirements, undertaking research to identify potential funding sources and strategies, and overseeing the planning and implementation of fundraising activities.

Salary and application process

The Executive Director’s salary will be in the range £55,000 - £60,000 pa., based on experience  There be a one-month probation period on either side and a three-months notice period thereafter.  The leave allowance is for 30 days per year (from 1 April – 31 March) with all UK Bank Holidays taken, by arrangement. The successful candidate should hold at least a first degree qualification.

A letter of application setting out your interest in this post, together with a CV and the names of  three referees who can be contacted if you are shortlisted, should be submitted by 17 February 2012. It should be addressed online to Anne Lonsdale, CARA Chair,  at al213@cam.ac.uk. 

Formal interviews for shortlisted candidates will be held on Friday 9 March 2012 at the Academy of Medical Sciences, 41 Portland Place, London.  On the previous day, 8 March, shortlisted candidates will be invited to make an informal visit to the CARA Office, located in London South Bank University, to meet the CARA staff,  and members of the F&GPC.  Candidates will be notified by email no later than 1 March 2012 if they have been called to interview. Essential travel and not more than 1 night’s accommodation costs for interviews will be met.