Facing Challenges Together: Report and insights from the Cara Scotland & the North Conference
June 25th 2025 saw a vibrant community of academics, researchers and supporters, dedicated to advancing support for at-risk academics come together for the annual Cara Scotland & the North Conference. The event, this year kindly hosted by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, fostered meaningful discussions and collaborative efforts toward developing strategies to assist at-risk academics.
Matt Foster, new Chief Executive of Cara, kicked off introducing Cara’s evolving strategy. Zeid Al Bayaty, Deputy Director and Fellowship Programme Manager, provided an update on Cara’s current initiatives, outlining the progress and challenges faced. A lively question and discussion session allowed participants to delve deeper into these topics and inform our strategy development.
Charlotte Plews from the Royal Society of Edinburgh, presented findings from her recent report A Space for Collaboration: Scottish higher education support to conflict settings. Following this, Kirstin Sonne, a PhD researcher from the University of Edinburgh, shared her insights from researching the lives of Cara Fellows past and present, giving great insight into their journey and challenges. Chioma Dibia, At-Risk Scholar Liaison at the University of Edinburgh then shared key learnings from supporting 12 fellows at Edinburgh since 2022, with some great insights on supporting families and partners too, as well as challenges in academic communication style.
A lively round-table discussions focused on various topics; how can we improve practical support for fellows and their dependents? How do we continue to enhance Cara’s fellowship and regional programmes? How do we better support fellows on their onward journeys? How can we communicate the benefits of partnerships with Cara and hosting fellows to universities? And importantly, how to we celebrate the work we’re doing? This led to some great input and ideas for our developing strategy, and a valuable exchange of ideas and solutions among colleagues.
The conference closed with a rousing call from Professor Alison Phipps - FRSE and UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration, with clear and enthusiastic encouragement to collaborate, but also to get out there and do the tough work. Doing something, is certainly better than doing nothing.
I came away with a renewed enthusiasm and gratitude to all of those present for their commitment to supporting at-risk academics in increasingly challenging local and global circumstances. Thank you so much to our kind hosts, all the speakers and attendees.