SCoJeC is delighted to announce the appointment of Fiona Frank as Project Worker on the Government-funded "Being Jewish in Scotland" project.

After almost a year of preliminary work, the Council was awarded a Scottish Government grant of £21 750 in September for a short study of the diversity of experience of Jewish people throughout Scotland. The project is intended to help us to identify the concerns of the community at large, including those in urban, rural, and island communities, whatever their religious affiliation, and so to understand their concerns develop our services to meet their needs, and by strengthening networks of Jewish people throughout Scotland, to reduce the isolation experienced by some.

The advertisement for a Project Worker attracted considerable interest and a strong field of applicants, but Fiona stood out because of the remarkable match between her qualifications and experience and the requirements of the project. As her PhD supervisor, Prof Arthur McIvor of the Scottish Oral History Centre commented, Fiona has "exactly the skill set required for this particular project. With the emphasis on qualitative research in the 'Being Jewish in Scotland' project, Fiona provides a perfect fit."

Fiona was born in Preston but lays claim to good Scottish heritage as her father was born in Glasgow's Gorbals. She has a BA in European Studies from the University of Bath, an M.Ed from the University of Sheffield, and has just finished a PhD, at the University of Strathclyde, that involved looking at transmission of Jewish identity through five generations of one extended Scottish Jewish family. She worked for many years at Lancaster University in the areas of adult literacy, adult learning, and learning for older people.

Outside work, she plays Klezmer, Irish, and European music on concertina and melodeon, is part of an ecological cohousing project, and is involved in the promotion of the art of her late aunt, the Glasgow artist Hannah Frank. She was secretary of the Lancaster and Lakes Jewish Community, with which she intends to maintain her connection while travelling round Scotland from a part time base in the West End of Glasgow.

Fiona said: "When I saw the Project Worker advert, I couldn't believe that a job had come up which was such a close fit with my interests, skills, and knowledge. I am very much looking forward to working with SCoJeC, and meeting with small Jewish communities and Jewish people and families all over Scotland to hear about their experiences."

Commenting on the appointment, SCoJeC Director Ephraim Borowski said: "We are delighted to welcome Fiona to the SCoJeC team. We thought when we advertised this post that it would be difficult to find someone with the required set of skills, talents, and interests, but we were delighted by the quality of several of the applications we received. Fiona led a strong field - it would be difficult to imagine a post more tailor-made for her skills and experience, or anyone more tailor-made to undertake this innovative and exciting project. We are grateful to the Scottish Government for recognising the issues facing scattered and diverse members of the Jewish Community and making this project possible, and we look forward to working with Fiona to discover more about the diversity of Jewish experience in Scotland."

To find out more about the project, contact Fiona at jewishinscotland@scojec.org.