About Asylos
Asylos is a global network of volunteers that provides high-quality country-of-origin information (COI) research to help people seeking asylum claim their right to safety under international law. Asylos is registered as a UK Charity, led by a small staff team and supported by a dynamic Board of Trustees.
At Asylos, we believe that every person seeking asylum deserves a fair opportunity to claim their right to protection. Evidence to prove fear of persecution or to support the credibility of individual testimony is a vital element in the decisions taken to grant or withhold asylum. But many refugees and their legal representatives cannot access this necessary information. To redress this imbalance and protect the right to asylum, Asylos volunteers leverage their research skills, contextual knowledge, and contacts on the ground to:
- ensure that people claiming asylum or other forms of protection and their legal counsel have access to crucial information to substantiate their claim; and
- ensure that the asylum and other protection procedures are evidence-based and unbiased.
After over ten years of growth and professionalisation and having merged with ARC Foundation three years ago, Asylos is at a consolidation point. It is reviewing its long-term strategy and the positioning of lived experience across its governance, workforce and overall delivery. Core goals for the next decade will be to consolidate Asylos’ standing and partnerships within the COI sector, to expand its research training for both COI producers and COI users, to strengthen its work on strategic and case specific research reports, and to effectively embed lived experience of forced migration within its Board and workforce.
Asylos’ commitment to anti-racism and integration of lived experiences
As an organisation with a mission to promote access to justice and to uphold human rights, we recognise that integrating lived experiences across our organisation and our work is central to our anti-racism, inclusion and diversity efforts.
Asylos is committed to:
- Identifying and addressing systemic inequities that may exist within our organisation and removing obstacles to access and participation, to ensure our work is inclusive and equitable.
- Valuing lived experiences to ensure that those directly affected by racism and discrimination, forced migration and by the inequities of asylum procedures in different countries have a meaningful voice in shaping our work.
- Creating policies, practices, and programmes that actively dismantle racism and promote inclusion and diversity, and support us to fulfil our overall mission.
- Drawing on insights from lived experiences to enable us to design and deliver initiatives that genuinely meet the needs of our beneficiaries.
- Regularly assessing our progress to hold ourselves accountable and stay focused on creating real, lasting change.
As a result of EDI monitoring, we are aware that Asylos needs to do more to increase diversity and inclusion of people with lived experiences across the organisation and within our Board of Trustees. We are therefore recruiting two new members of our Board, who will bring with them a commitment to Asylos’ mission, as well as relevant expertise and lived experiences.
Asylos’ working definition of lived experiences includes direct experiences of i) asylum systems, statelessness procedures or protection procedures for trafficked persons or ii) living in or forced migration from countries of origin of refugees or iii) migration from the Global South. We recognise that factors such as gender, age, disability and other factors shape these and other lived experiences.
Trustee Board
Board of Trustees: Asylos’ Board of Trustees have overall legal responsibility for the charity and are responsible for ensuring our finances and resources are well-used in line with our strategic priorities. Trustees have responsibility for ensuring good governance, due process and risk management in line with charity law and regulations. Operational management and implementation is delegated to the Co-Directors. For more information on the requirements of a trustee, see Government Guidance.
Board members are unpaid and are recruited for their expertise, experience and interest in Asylos’ work, and their ability to enable the Board to meet its responsibilities. You will be joining a committed Board of seven Trustees with a wide range of expertise including in academic and COI research, experience in the refugee sector and international development.
Term: Three years; optional extension of a further three years.
Time commitment: The Board meets quarterly, online, for around 1.5 hours. One board meeting a year is ideally in person, ahead of the All Asylos in person conference. Online meetings currently take place in late afternoons/early evenings. Around one-two hours reading time is usually sufficient preparation for a typical meeting, although more reading time may be required if decisions are due to be made in the meeting.
There is currently one long-standing subcommittee delegated to oversee finance and fundraising and a working group on anti-racism and integration of lived experiences. Attendance at subcommittees is optional – although trustees are encouraged to join when possible – and they also meet quarterly. The Board also appoints ad hoc subcommittees for particular projects as per the organisation’s needs. Board members are expected to assist in the organisation and to attend other meetings as required. In addition, Board members provide ad-hoc support to the Co-Directors in line with their specific areas of expertise.
General duties of all Board members:
- Attend Quarterly Board meetings.
- Read papers sent out for discussion prior to Board meetings and prepare to contribute ideas and feedback.
- Read and where necessary respond to emails from the Co-Directors and other Board members.
- Participate in the work of any subcommittees for which they are members.
- Promote the work of Asylos through their own networks and contacts, including to funders.
- Offer advice, support and assistance to the Co-Directors on an individual basis (as commitments permit).
- Take a proactive and collaborative approach to securing fundraising for Asylos’ activities and in raising the profile of the organisation.
- Participate in recruitment of Board members and/or staff via appointed panels.
- Undertake training to support all the above as agreed by the Board.
- Serve on panels to hear disciplinary or grievance matters.
- Contribute to the development of Asylos’ strategic priorities during strategic cycles.
What we can offer: As a Board member, as well as a warm welcome, we can offer you training and development opportunities related to charity governance and access to Asylos internal and external COI training; reimbursement of expenses; funded attendance at All Asylos in-person conferences; and connection and networking opportunities.
Person specification
Our new Trustees will draw on their understanding of and commitment to migrant justice, their expertise and their lived experiences to support and act as a critical friend to the Board, staff team and volunteer network in order to ensure a focus on anti-racism and centring lived experiences in our work.
We particularly welcome applications from people with experience in research in an academic or operational environment, in network or volunteer coordination, or in organisational development.
We are looking for:
- Commitment to the mission and aims of Asylos and an interest in evidence-based asylum procedures.
- Lived experiences within Asylos’ working definition set out above.
- Experience of
- research, ideally inclusive of participative research practices and of embedding lived experiences in research practice; and/or
- working with volunteers, or working with or within networks; and/or
- organisational development, including any of human resources, fundraising, digital development.
- Readiness to work together with the staff team, the network and the rest of the Board to create innovative ideas and develop our organisation.
- Ability to think strategically and balance risk and opportunity.
- Creativity and openness to change.
- Understanding of or interest in the legal obligations of civil society organisations.
- Curiosity to work with a diverse, transnational network of engaged volunteer researchers.
- Willingness to commit around 4-8 hours a month to the governance of the organisation
- No conflict of interests with the work of Asylos.
Your relevant skills and experience could be from working, training, volunteering, interests or life experiences.
This is an exciting opportunity to support Asylos’ growth and to shape its work over the years to come! As a Trustee, you will be working closely with a passionate team of people from different countries and professional backgrounds.
Given that we are a transnational network, we mostly work online. The Board meets on average four times a year, with one in-person meeting per year organised in a European capital (usually on a weekend). Trustees are appointed on a 3-year term, renewable.
How to apply
Please send your CV and cover letter (max one page) to co-directors@asylos.eu
Applications are currently open until Monday 28 April 2025.
If you have any questions or are interested in an informal discussion about the role, please contact Jo Pettitt at jo.pettitt@asylos.eu