In Feb, 
Sheffield Hallam University — home to the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice (HKC) — complied with a demand from Beijing to halt research about human rights abuses in China and ordered one of its best-known professors, Laura Murphy, to cease research on supply chains and forced labor in the communist country.
The website for the Forced Labour Lab, Murphy’s small team of researchers at the HKC, was taken down — although several of the reports remain available in other, less visible parts of the university archive.
In Oct, after threats of legal action from Murphy for violating her academic freedom, Sheffield Hallam lifted restrictions and apologized. Murphy said she remained “cautious”.
But the 8-month stoppage — and the abandonment of previous research — reveals the chilling effect that pressure from the Chinese authorities can have on UK universities.
The university had told Murphy that a combination of administrative issues meant they could no longer support her work. But further inquiries suggested the university was explicitly trading Murphy’s academic freedom for access to the Chinese student market. The university denies that the decision was based on commercial interests.
The instruction for Murphy to halt her research came 6 months after the university decided to abandon a planned report on the risk of Uyghur forced labor in the critical minerals supply chain, and return the funding associated with that research to the original grantor, Global Rights Compliance (GRC), a non-profit law foundation based in The Hague. GRC eventually published the research in June this year.
Officially, the university gave two reasons for halting Murphy’s research: concern about the safety of staff in China, and the fact that, after being sued by a Chinese company named in one of the HKC’s reports, the university’s insurance provider said it would no longer cover work produced by the HKC for defamation risk. That lawsuit is ongoing.
Internal emails suggest that commercial factors were a consideration in placing limits on Murphy’s work.
In the summer of 2022, 
foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian called the HKC — whose namesake, Lady Kennedy, has herself been hit with sanctions by Beijing because of her criticisms of China’s human rights record — a “vanguard for anti-China forces”. Around the same time, Sheffield Hallam’s websites were blocked in China. “This undoubtedly had a negative impact on recruitment in 23/24.”
“Attempting to retain the business in China and publication of the [HKC] research are now untenable bedfellows.”
In Apr 2024, Sheffield Hallam’s Beijing office was visited by three state security officers. An employee was questioned for 2 hours regarding the HKC. According to an internal summary of the meeting, “the tone was threatening and [the] message to cease the research activity was made clear”.
The April interrogation set off a chain of events that would lead to the university ultimately complying with the Chinese authorities’ request. “There was this general sense that they were … intimidated into not publishing.”
Emails show staff grappling with how to manage the relationship with China. In Sep 2024, the university informed state security that it would not be publishing a final phase of research on forced labour in China. “Immediately, relations improved.”
Murphy had been on leave then, working for the US government to implement legislation that blocks the import of goods from Xinjiang because of concerns about forced labour. While preparing to return to the university at the start of this year, she was told she would not be able to continue with research on China. The person who delivered the news was Prof Sital Dhillon, the director of the HKC, who, in 2021, had written to Murphy: “We are all exceptionally proud of this body of work, which rightly shines light on the blatant abuse of Uyghur [rights] in China.”
theguardian.com/education/2025
Sheffield Hallam University — home to the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice (HKC) — complied with a demand from Beijing to halt research about human rights abuses in China and ordered one of its best-known professors, Laura Murphy, to cease research on supply chains and forced labor in the communist country.
The website for the Forced Labour Lab, Murphy’s small team of researchers at the HKC, was taken down — although several of the reports remain available in other, less visible parts of the university archive.
In Oct, after threats of legal action from Murphy for violating her academic freedom, Sheffield Hallam lifted restrictions and apologized. Murphy said she remained “cautious”.
But the 8-month stoppage — and the abandonment of previous research — reveals the chilling effect that pressure from the Chinese authorities can have on UK universities.
The university had told Murphy that a combination of administrative issues meant they could no longer support her work. But further inquiries suggested the university was explicitly trading Murphy’s academic freedom for access to the Chinese student market. The university denies that the decision was based on commercial interests.
The instruction for Murphy to halt her research came 6 months after the university decided to abandon a planned report on the risk of Uyghur forced labor in the critical minerals supply chain, and return the funding associated with that research to the original grantor, Global Rights Compliance (GRC), a non-profit law foundation based in The Hague. GRC eventually published the research in June this year.
Officially, the university gave two reasons for halting Murphy’s research: concern about the safety of staff in China, and the fact that, after being sued by a Chinese company named in one of the HKC’s reports, the university’s insurance provider said it would no longer cover work produced by the HKC for defamation risk. That lawsuit is ongoing.
Internal emails suggest that commercial factors were a consideration in placing limits on Murphy’s work.
In the summer of 2022, foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian called the HKC — whose namesake, Lady Kennedy, has herself been hit with sanctions by Beijing because of her criticisms of China’s human rights record — a “vanguard for anti-China forces”. Around the same time, Sheffield Hallam’s websites were blocked in China. “This undoubtedly had a negative impact on recruitment in 23/24.”
“Attempting to retain the business in China and publication of the [HKC] research are now untenable bedfellows.”
In Apr 2024, Sheffield Hallam’s Beijing office was visited by three state security officers. An employee was questioned for 2 hours regarding the HKC. According to an internal summary of the meeting, “the tone was threatening and [the] message to cease the research activity was made clear”.
The April interrogation set off a chain of events that would lead to the university ultimately complying with the Chinese authorities’ request. “There was this general sense that they were … intimidated into not publishing.”
Emails show staff grappling with how to manage the relationship with China. In Sep 2024, the university informed state security that it would not be publishing a final phase of research on forced labour in China. “Immediately, relations improved.”
Murphy had been on leave then, working for the US government to implement legislation that blocks the import of goods from Xinjiang because of concerns about forced labour. While preparing to return to the university at the start of this year, she was told she would not be able to continue with research on China. The person who delivered the news was Prof Sital Dhillon, the director of the HKC, who, in 2021, had written to Murphy: “We are all exceptionally proud of this body of work, which rightly shines light on the blatant abuse of Uyghur [rights] in China.”
theguardian.com/education/2025