Our staff
STAR is led by a team of staff and a board of trustees. The national staff team provides training and support to our student groups at colleges and universities across the UK. We work together at a number of levels to bring about lasting change for refugees.Â
Interim Chief Executive
and equal access lead
Lidia Dancu
I am the Interim Chief Executive at STAR, having first joined the organisation in March 2025 as Equal Access Manager. I now provide leadership across STAR’s work, ensuring we continue to drive forward our mission to make the UK a space of welcome and belonging for people who have been forcibly displaced, by harnessing student leadership and by making refugee access to higher education fairer and more equitable. I work closely with higher education institutions, NGO partners, and STAR groups to strengthen advocacy, collaboration, and impact across the sector.
Before stepping into this role, I worked in a variety of positions in higher education, with a strong focus on widening access and participation for disadvantaged and underrepresented groups. I have conducted research on refugee participation in education and over the years, have been an advocate for human rights and fair legal representation. I hold degrees in Economics and also in Law, and I am an accredited widening access and participation practitioner.
Volunteering Coordinator
Loujain Baghdadi
I joined STAR in May 2024, as the Volunteer Coodinator where I work with students and local charities to develop and deliver projects that are in the best interests of refugees. I have worked for seven years with organisations that support youth education in Syria. I started a digital platform that supports youth in the MENA region to design their educational and career paths.
Student Network Manager
Alice Clarke
Student network ORGANISER
Teigan
I joined STAR in September 2024 as the Student Network Organiser. My role is to support all STAR groups across the network from setting up and recruiting members to organising events and fundraising. Before joining STAR, I volunteered and worked abroad with various projects that support refugees and people seeking asylum. I love being part of the network and seeing student’s passion and dedication to making the UK a welcoming place for refugees and people seeking asylum!
Our trustees
TREASURER
James Osbourne
James’ background is as a fundraiser, and he has worked and volunteered for a range of charities, including Oxfam, Third World First, and the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture. Currently, he is also treasurer at National Ugly Mugs, who work to end violence against sex workers, and is on the working group for Music Declares Emergency, which supports artists in speaking out on climate change. As Treasurer, his role is to help manage STAR’s accounts, work with the STAR team on day-to-day finances and report back to STAR groups at the annual conference.
TRUSTEE
Maryam Taher
Maryam graduated from the University of York in 2019, where she was a recipient of the Equal Access scholarship. She was the Volunteering Coordinator of York STAR and campaigned for Equal Access. After graduating, she became a STAR Equal Access Activist and uses her expertise to guide the campaign. She represented STAR at the Global Refugee Forum in 2019, co-organised STAR’s Refugee Scholars Conference in 2020, and helped to establish the Equal Access Network for students and applicants from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds. She now works at City of Sanctuary as Universities of Sanctuary Coordinator.Â
TRUSTEE
Matthew Grenier
Matthew as worked with and for charities since 1993, when he joined the Refugee Council. He is currently the Business Development Director at HACT, working with housing associations across the UK to enhance the services they provide to residents and local communities. Prior to joining HACT he ran his own company, working with refugee and human rights charities to deliver strategic communications campaigns. He has written and edited numerous research reports, articles and blogs, as well as co-authoring a book on Chinese communism.
TRUSTEE
Christine Bacon
Christine Bacon is Artistic Director of Ice&Fire, a theatre company with a human rights focus. She founded Ice&Fire’s national Actors for Human Rights network in 2006, a project that has seen countless collaborations with STAR group across the UK and continues to tour on a rolling basis. She has written and produced over a dozen scripts for ice&fire and has been commissioned by a several third sector organisations because of her expertise with collecting and presenting first-hand testimony on typically thorny issues. She holds a Msc. in Forced Migration from the Refugee Studies Centre (Oxford University) and much of her work at ice&fire has focused on refugee and migrant rights. She regularly volunteers with The Unity Project and Hackney Migrant Centre.Â
STUDENT TRUSTEE
Max Altaras
Max is the President of Edinburgh STAR and was voted onto our board of trustees at the 2023 AGM.
“My favourite project we have arranged recently was where we gathered many different items ranging from kitchenware to bedding. We then gave 20 families who were asylum seekers a form where they ticked the items they needed and we delivered these objects to them. This focused our efforts on targeting the exact need of each individual to properly aid them as best we could.
I am looking forward to my role as student trustee and working with many different STAR groups on a variety of projects especially those involving volunteering.”
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