In brief
Sheffield Hallam University has been accused of succumbing to pressure from China to stop human rights research related to Uyghur forced labor. Documents reveal a campaign of intimidation that involved threats to staff and blocking university access from China. The UK government has warned China against such actions, highlighting the importance of academic freedom. Professor Laura Murphy, leading the research, has initiated legal action against the university after being informed that her work could not continue. The case raises alarms over foreign influence on UK universities and the protection of scholarly work.
China waged a campaign of harassment and intimidation directed at a UK university to get it to shut down sensitive research into alleged human rights abuses, documents seen by the BBC show.
Sheffield Hallam University staff in China were threatened by individuals described by them as being from China's National Security Service who demanded the research being done in Sheffield be halted.
Access to the university's websites from China was blocked, impeding its ability to recruit Chinese students, in a campaign of threats and intimidation lasting more than two years.
In an internal email from July 2024, university officials said attempting to retain the business in China and publication of the research are now untenable bedfellows.
When the UK government learned of the case, the then Foreign Secretary David Lammy issued a warning to his Chinese counterpart that it would not tolerate attempts to suppress academic freedoms at UK universities, the BBC understands.
The issue was also raised with China's most senior education minister.
China was seeking to halt research by Laura Murphy, professor of human rights and contemporary slavery at Sheffield Hallam, into allegations Uyghur Muslims in the north-western region of Xinjiang were subject to forced labour.
In late 2024, following pressure from the Chinese state and a separate defamation lawsuit against the university, Sheffield Hallam decided not to publish a final piece of research by Prof Murphy and her team into forced labour.
In early 2025, university administrators informed her that she could not continue with her research into supply chains and forced labour in China.
She initiated legal action against the university for failing in its duty to protect her academic freedom and submitted a subject access request demanding Sheffield Hallam hand over any relevant internal documents.
The documents showed that the university had negotiated directly with a foreign intelligence service to trade my academic freedom for access to the Chinese student market, she explained.
Sheffield Hallam has now publicly apologized to Prof Murphy and will allow her to resume her work, acknowledging that its previous decision was based on concerns about a complex set of circumstances, including insurance and safety issues.
Baroness Helena Kennedy KC has expressed concerns over the vulnerability of UK universities to pressures from foreign governments, indicating that financial concerns related to international student recruitment could compromise academic integrity.
