Scholars whose work challenges repressive regimes or who push to express themselves freely risk sanctions, surveillance and expulsion. Their work may be censored, their equipment seized and travel restricted. Some are imprisoned or exiled, even killed.
Pressure on academic freedom isn’t limited to authoritarian states. In some democratic countries, governments are stepping up efforts to restrict courses they don’t approve of, particularly those focused on gender, sexuality and race.
Some institutions are choosing to respond rather than retreat.
Bringing uOttawa’s academic mission to life
With a worldwide increase in attacks on academic freedom, the University of Ottawa’s long-standing participation in the Scholars at Risk (SAR) network carries renewed urgency.
Scholars at Risk is a global network of institutions of higher education and individuals that monitors and reports on attacks, advocates for imprisoned or silenced scholars, and provides advisory, referral and career support services to those under threat. It also creates tools to help universities resist attacks on their autonomy. Through temporary academic placements, the network enables scholars to continue teaching and publishing without fear of reprisals.
In the 2024–2025 academic year, SAR arranged 164 such placements for scholars from 20 countries at 102 host institutions, including the University of Ottawa.
Founded in 2014, uOttawa’s SAR program is hosted by the University’s well-established Human Rights Research and Education Centre (HRREC) and operates under the authority of the Office of the Vice President, Research and Innovation.
The University welcomed its first scholar, an Iranian lawyer, in 2015, in collaboration with Carleton University. It has since welcomed 10 additional scholars across eight faculties and, in 2021, launched a remote service that provides access to databases and support from specialized librarians to scholars in Venezuela.
Financial support for visiting scholars can come from a wide range of sources. The University hosted three scholars in the 2024–2025 academic year, with the Association of Professors of the University of Ottawa, the Institute for International Education, HRREC and the host faculties themselves all making significant contributions.
Expanding impact and influence
The HRREC at uOttawa has monitored and reported on attacks in Canada and throughout Latin America since 2018. In 2021, it established the Coalition for Academic Freedom in the Americas (CAFA), partnering with Scholars at Risk and the University of Monterrey in Mexico. The University will host the fifth CAFA conference in October.
As part of the SAR Program, uOttawa has contributed to numerous international projects to protect academic freedom, including the just released UNESCO Guidelines for Universities Hosting Human Rights Defenders and the Inter-American Principles on Academic Freedom and University Autonomy, which place academic freedom within the context of human rights protected by international conventions.
“Freedom of expression and academic freedom form the cornerstone of the independence, not only of universities in our society, but democracy itself,” says Viviana Fernandez, associate director at HRREC and SAR uOttawa lead. “We have a responsibility to support scholars who risk their livelihoods and their lives to exercise their rights.”
Benefits to scholars, students and faculty
Fernandez says that, beyond protecting scholars’ physical safety, uOttawa’s SAR program advances the intellectual, moral and social aspects of campus life. Visiting scholars can resume the research and teaching they were forced to abandon, while their students are exposed to new avenues of inquiry.
“Freedom of expression and academic freedom form the cornerstone of the independence of universities and of democracy itself.”
Viviana Fernandez
— Associate Director, Human Rights Research and Education Centre
For political scientist Bantayehu Shiferaw Chanie, the program made research continuity possible. The former assistant professor at Ethiopia’s Bahir Dar University had drawn the ire of authorities for his writings on political tensions and human rights abuses in the Amhara region of the country. He left in 2023, at the outbreak of violence, and recently completed two years as visiting scholar at uOttawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, part of the Faculty of Social Sciences.
“At uOttawa, I could continue to contribute intellectually at a time when it seemed impossible. I felt valued and supported as a scholar.”
Bantayehu Shiferaw Chanie
— SAR uOttawa Scholar
“At uOttawa, I could continue to contribute intellectually at a time when it seemed impossible,” he says. “I felt valued and supported as a scholar.”
Chanie adds: “The sense of community from my colleagues, students, and my mentor, Professor Christina Clark-Kazak, was an incredibly rewarding experience."
Two years after his arrival, he was elected a member of the Royal Society of Canada College.
“Being elected to the Royal Society was a tremendous honour that wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the uOttawa SAR Program.”
Working behind the scenes to protect academic freedom
SAR’s work is neither easy nor free. Fernandez’s team engages with Ottawa’s diaspora groups to help incoming scholars manage the litany of details that come with rebuilding a life in a new country. Hosting a scholar also requires sustained financial support. A fundraising campaign is now under way to help offset the stipend costs.
Fernandez says the work is always worth the effort.
“Every new community we engage creates new learning opportunities for students and opens new avenues for teaching and research. The more we defend our colleagues, the more the world benefits.”
As the program enters its second decade, the SAR uOttawa Program Committee, composed of professors, students, and staff, plan to extend its impact further through new, deeper relationships with more groups and faculties. Demand for placements continues to outstrip resources, and not every faculty is ready to host a scholar. But with attacks on scholars rising to an alarming degree, Fernandez remains committed to defending their academic freedom.
“When scholars are silenced, our society and our democracy both suffer. We have no choice but to defend them.”
Protecting global knowledge and data
The University of Ottawa’s own researchers benefit from the SAR uOttawa Program, too. Their emphasis on multidisciplinary approaches draws on global knowledge and data. Projects can fall apart if access to a particular dataset — or a particular researcher — is suddenly cut off.
“Discarding evidence for policy development and decision-making affects us all regardless of location,” says Fernandez. “Science is a global effort. When one person is unable or decides to no longer contribute, the global scientific community loses those contributions.”
Canada also benefits. At the end of their postings, many visiting scholars continue their careers in the public or private sectors, Bantayehu Shiferaw Chanie included.
