October 15, 2025

Ann Lewis, BEARR Trustee

Have you ever wondered where the News from the Region on the Home page of BEARR’s website and at the end of the newsletters comes from? Let me take you behind the scenes, highlighting the role played by our volunteers.

Until 2022, our news offering focused very largely on Russia, and most of the news items were chosen by our freelance representative in Moscow from stories appearing on the website of the Agency for Social Information (ASI). This is a CSO which collects and disseminates news about the third sector in Russia, especially in the field of health and social welfare. Occasional items about other countries in our region were contributed by trustees.

After the full-scale invasion of Ukraine the focus of our activities moved away from Russia. Happily our chief translator was able to step up, and we have since recruited a team of enthusiastic new volunteers who between them can cover all the countries in the region. Their work goes largely unacknowledged, but I’m delighted to introduce them below.

Each of our newsfinders surveys a wide range of published sources and sends a weekly selection of potential news items to me. I act as supervisor of the whole news operation, supported by a small editorial team of fellow trustees. I choose the items that I think will be of most interest to our readership, and these are posted and translated into English

The newsfinders look for items dealing with the overall position of CSOs in individual countries (a depressing and fast-moving picture at present); changes in law, policy and practise affecting health and social welfare and how they are administered; and surveys of public opinion covering these areas.

Meet the team:

Neil Hailey

Neil is our longest-serving volunteer and chief translator. Neil worked for the government’s official wildlife advisers for many years, but returned to his academic roots to become a freelance translator and editor in 2017, specialising in German and Russian into English. He first started working for BEARR in 2013 and has completed some 350 translations as well as, more recently, supervising new translators.

“Working as a volunteer translator for BEARR enabled me to gain valuable experience, which helped me to get established in my latter-day professional career. It’s nice to be involved in some way in an organisation that does a lot to improve the social welfare of those in need, particularly in Ukraine”.

Oscar Seecharan

Oscar has been working with The BEARR Trust for two years. He has a background using Russian in a range of professional roles and settings. For BEARR he covers Russian news stories gleaned from independent media outlets as well as ASI.

“I very much enjoy working with The BEARR Trust and organisations like it, because I raise awareness of social issues and work together with like-minded people.” 

Victoria Connolly

Victoria recently graduated from Cambridge having spent some months in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, perfecting her Russian and volunteering. She started working with BEARR in February 2024. She collects stories from across the Central Asia region and Ukraine.

“What I find particularly rewarding about my role at The BEARR Trust is that I am able to find and highlight stories about the most vulnerable in society, those stories which typically get hidden behind the flashy headlines about presidential unveilings and international business deals. It’s a role like no other.”

Michael Gavin

Michael is a final-year Cambridge student in Russian and Ukrainian, specialising in the shifting political and cultural dynamics of the post-Soviet space. He has volunteered for BEARR since July 2024 and is responsible for tracking developments in Belarus, Moldova and the South Caucasus, as well as the occasional translation of Russian-language sources into English. 

“I do this because developments in public policy, as well as an understanding of non-profit and NGO sector dynamics in Eastern Partnership countries and post-Soviet civil society, provide key insights into how local challenges intersect with emerging trends that directly affect the region’s future.”

Emma Jones

After completing a degree in Hispanic Studies and Russian, Emma went on to study an MA in Translation with a focus on the translation of space weather research materials. She now works in the film industry as a subtitler for theatrical releases.

“I volunteer for BEARR as a translator as it allows me to keep up my Russian language skills in a meaningful way.” 

We are enormously grateful to all those volunteers who contribute to our work. In the past many of our volunteers have gone on to careers in relevant areas. We are always happy to provide a reference, and in most cases they have been successful in their applications.

If readers have any comments on our news operation, we would be glad to have them.