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
Our staff
Chief Executive
Emily Crowley
I joined STAR in autumn 2009 as the Volunteering Project Coordinator, took on the role of Deputy Director in 2012, and have been the Chief Executive since 2019. I’ve been working in the refugee sector since 2006 and in the charity sector since 2004. Before working at STAR, I led a research project into mental health service provision for asylum seekers and refugees in England and Wales at Mind. Before that, I was the Volunteering Coordinator at the North Glasgow Community Food Initiative, a project originally established by the Glasgow STAR group. I am CELTA qualified and teach English to refugees and migrants as a volunteer.Â
Equal access manager
Lidia Dancu
I joined STAR in March 2025 as the Equal Access Manager. I coordinate the work with higher education institutions and with our other NGO partners to make access to higher education for those forcibly displaced fairer and more equitable. I also work with STAR groups to support their advocacy work within their own institutions.Â
Before joining STAR full-time, I worked in a variety of roles in higher education, focusing on widening access and participation in HE for those from disadvantaged and underrepresented backgrounds. I have conducted research in refugee participation in education and have ran access to justice projects. I hold degrees in Economics and Marketing and 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 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 graduated in 2020 with a BA in History from the University of Exeter and in 2022 with an MA in Conflict, Security and Development from KCL
Student Network Manager
Alice Clarke
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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