OU PhD student raises funds for asylum seekers

Jo Vincett, who is doing her PhD at the OU’s Faculty of Business and Law, raised £421,000 worth of grants for Yarl’s Wood Befrienders during her internship programme.

Yarl’s Wood Befrienders is a charity in Bedford which provides emotional and practical support for migrants and asylum seekers, mainly women, who are detained in Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre. The UK is the only country in Europe with no time limit in detention, and with little to no notice if, and when, they will be released or removed from the UK.

Jo did a Santander internship for three months during the data collection stage of her PhD and was in a position to help the charity with their fundraising and to become a Trustee on the Board of Directors, Yarl's Wood Befrienders, overseeing fundraising, monitoring and evaluation.

“I gained some amazing experience around fundraising and writing bids and leading teams,” she said. “For the charity, it was incredibly affordable for them as they got matching funds from Santander and I was able to raise £421,000 in grants to be implemented over four years.”

Jo previously was the Associate Director for the social enterprise sector and international lead for the Career Development Office at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, USA. She also was an Adjunct Professor at Granite State College and taught a Business Management course ‘Effecting Positive Change in Organizations’.

Watch the video below to hear what Jo has to say about her research: