UK university caved to China pressure over forced labour research: Professor

Sheffield Hallam University in the UK had temporarily stopped critical research into forced labour in China because of pressure from Chinese authorities-a move immediately condemned by scholars from around the world, and now litigated by Professor Laura Murphy. Murphy is a globally renowned expert in contemporary slavery, investigating the widespread forced labour in the Uyghur region of Xinjiang, its relation to global supply chains, and the role of the Chinese government in that.

According to internal documents disclosed under freedom of information, the university had acted in response to direct threats from Chinese security services that included the blocking of access to the university's website and email services in China as part of efforts to disrupt student recruitment and intimidate faculty working on sensitive topics.

Murphy said university officials banned her from any further research on forced labor and prohibited her from doing any studies that had anything to do with China. She then hired human rights lawyers, insisting on restoration of her academic freedom. The legal pressure eventually compelled the university to apologize and pledge to protect her research rights.

The controversy laid bare anxieties over the influence that China now wields over global academic freedom, with evidence to suggest the university had compromised research integrity in the face of commercial interests and political pressure. 

Sheffield Hallam University denied commercial motives, citing complex circumstances involving insurance issues, but promised to defend academic freedom in the future. This case indicates a growing number of global challenges to scholarly independence in a geopolitically tense world and is a sign that universities must take immediate, active steps to protect researchers from coercion in the quest for truth and justice.