Kate Brown = Director 

Kate is holding the fort for Fiona in 2024 and, working closely with the Board of Trustees and sector leaders, continues to drive us towards our vision of a rent-free #HomeAtUniversity for all estranged and care experienced students. If you are interested in being a funding partner and working with us to increase the number of scholarships we deliver, Kate would love to hear from you.  If you would like to provide a rent-free #HomeAtUniversity for estranged and care experienced students at your university, we’d be more than happy to share how it can be done. 

Kate is learning to climb and boulder – her two daughters enjoy that she goes to classes with them, but also that she is much slower than them! 

Laura Bowman = Scholarship Scheme Manager

Laura will be the person you speak to most if you’re a student on the scholarship, she works closely with our university and accommodation partners to make sure everyone feels welcome and safe at home. Laura will help get you settled in and check in with you along the way to make sure everything is ok. She has brilliant relationships with the university and accommodation teams and is always on hand to support you.

Laura lives in Aberdeen and enjoys making fictional plans to renovate chateaus in sunnier climates! When she’s not dreaming of sunny renovations, she enjoys exercise and learning about health, fitness and nutrition.

Helen Arber = Head of Operations

Helen heads up our operations which encompasses finance & quality assurance, student community and of course our scholarship.  She works with our university, accommodation and charity partners to ensure our support for the young people we work with is the best it can be. If you have an interest in data on student outcomes or a view on how our charitable operations can be enhanced, please drop her a line.

Helen’s favourite place is a greenhouse with a cuppa and some seedlings.

Ira Hakim = All of Us Programme Manager

Ira is working with care experienced and estranged students across the UK to lead the development of our community engagement strategy; helping to facilitate the growth of an inclusive community for all care experienced and estranged people in higher education. Find out more at AllofUs.uk

Engagement with our community will inform service delivery and policy making, and Ira will be supporting the student community to identify opportunities for action and activism. If you’d like to talk about anything student-community centred, Ira would like to hear from you.

Ira loves the outdoors, folk music, reading and dogs.

Beki Rymsza = Head of Brand + Communications 

Beki heads up the charity’s brand and communications; underpinning our strategic ambition, raising awareness of our work and leading on campaign activity to create a rent-free #HomeAtUniversity for all estranged and care experienced students. Get in touch with Beki if you’d like to support us in raising awareness of the scholarship, would like to get involved in campaigning or have a press enquiry.

Safiyyah Hanif = Communications + Content Executive

Safiyyah works across all our communications activity and ensures seamless delivery of campaigns, audience engagement and brand communications. Safiyyah also works closely with students on the scholarship who form the wider communications team to both lead and support them to deliver digital content and campaigns. If you’re a Unite Foundation student keen to get involved in social media and marketing, or have ideas for content or campaigns, Safiyyah would love to hear from you.

Safiyyah loves reading fiction novels, writing poetry, hiking and dancing to Taylor Swift.