What Orbán’s fall from power means for research Hungary’s new leader has promised a ‘system change’ — but researchers say that rebuilding science will take more than a reversal of Victor Orbán’s laws.

With the historic electoral defeat of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, #Hungary’s scholars express both uncertainty and hope that university autonomy, relationships w/ European institutions, and #academicfreedom can return to the country. @nature.com reports:
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

📣Calling all SAR network members: the 2025–2026 Member Survey is now live!

Your input helps power SAR’s global strategy by ensuring programming, services, and communications respond to your priorities. Share your feedback by July 15.

Take the survey: https://ow.ly/pQeG50YKEGS

Hilde Domin Programme A win for Germany Why networks such as Scholars at Risk and the DAAD's Hilde Domin Programme for threatened and persecuted researchers are also a gain for Germany.

Network member DAAD Worldwide marked #SAR25 with a timely article on its initiatives supporting endangered researchers.

“Academic freedom and the free development of personality are essential for a free and democratic society.” — DAAD President Joybrato Mukherjee

https://ow.ly/qJ8750YEw0o

The temporary ceasefire in #Iran offers universities a brief respite from airstrikes, but rebuilding infrastructure and addressing the psychological toll of lost academic communities remains a long-term challenge. @timeshighered.bsky.social reports:
www.timeshighereducation.com/news/iran-ce...

Hatami and Biglari were young students exercising their right to protest and voicing their hopes for a brighter, more democratic future for their country. SAR urges the intl #humanrights and #highered community to not remain silent about their deaths.

Iran refuses to return body of executed teen protester to family Iranian security forces have still not returned the body of 18-year-old protester Amirhossein Hatami to his family, four days after his execution, in what informed sources described as further pressur...

UPDATE on Amirhossein Hatami: Hatami, an 18 yr old industrial design student at the University of Tehran, was executed on April 2nd. Both @iraninternational.bsky.social and ICOIA have confirmed that the Iranian govt has yet to return his body to his family. www.iranintl.com/en/202604067...

SAR is heartbroken to learn that on April 5, 19-yr student Mohammadamin Biglari was executed for participating in #Iran’s January anti-govt protests. This cruel escalation in Iran’s punishment of student protesters must be met w/ unified condemnation from global #highered. x.com/autnews_org/...

‘Unusually steep’ decline in US university autonomy, index shows Drop in institutional autonomy of 50 per cent since 2015 means country is now only rated as ‘moderate’ by experts

Data from the latest 2026 #AcademicFreedomIndex saw institutional autonomy in the #US decline by 50% since 2015—an "unusually steep” decline that warrants both concern and pushback from the higher education community. @timeshighered.bsky.social reports:
www.timeshighereducation.com/news/unusual...?

In a conversation with science journalist @timgabel.bsky.social from Research.Table, Robert Quinn @scholarsatrisk.bsky.social, and Robert Schlögl, President of the Humboldt Foundation, discuss the rising pressures on #AcademicFreedom around the world. www.humboldt-foundation.de/en/explore/m...

SAR is delighted to share that Marfa Rabkova, a #wrongfullyimprisoned student in hashtag#Belarus since 2020, was today freed! Thank you to the international community and to the #StudentAdvocacySeminars who raised their voices for Rabkova and campaigned for her freedom!

No food, no water, no medicine, and the greater risk of extrajudicial torture & executions. This is the reality for #wrongfullyimprisoned Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali in #Iran’s Evin Prison. @ruchikumar.com reports on the increasingly dire conditions for Dr. Djalali in @foreignpolicy.com:

Abduljalil Al-Singace, Bahrain | Scholars at Risk Dr. Abdul Jalil Al-Singace is a Bahraini scholar of mechanical engineering sentenced to life in prison and has been denied access to appropriate medical care.

Dr. Al-Singace, who was #wrongfullyimprisoned during pro-democracy protests in #Bahrain in 2011, deserves freedom. Instead, he faces a life sentence and endures routine mistreatment while imprisoned. Demand Bahrain #FreeAlSingace here:
www.scholarsatrisk.org/actions/abdu...

Joint appeal for Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace on 15th anniversary of his arrest - News & Events - English PEN

It has been 15 yrs since Dr. Abduljalil Al-Singace, a scholar of mechanical engineering, was wrongfully arrested and sentenced to life in prison in #Bahrain. Today, SAR joins @englishpen.bsky.social in a joint appeal to the Bahrain govt to finally #FreeAlSingace:
www.englishpen.org/posts/campai...

The #AcademicFreedomIndex Update 2026 is out now! A project by SAR’s partners, @fau.de and @vdeminstitute.bsky.social, the index measures #academicfreedom levels around the globe and warns of the steep decline in institutional autonomy in the #US. Read now:
academic-freedom-index.net

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Transnational Knowledge Production and Academic Identity. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. Scholars Alfred Babo and Sayed Hassan Akhlaq’s new edited volume is a highly engaging experiential analysis of how academic institutions in the Global North might benefit from more meaningful integration of exiled scholars in their midst. The scholars featured in the volume Exiled Scholars in Western Academia: Refugees or Intellectuals? Reflections on the Paradox of Inclusion and Exclusion (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025) draw upon autoethnographic research to showcase exiled scholar experiences and suggestions for how universities can better share the platform of knowledge creation.

Scholars carry knowledge across borders—even in exile.

Join Clark University March 19, 12–1 PM ET
Scholars in Exile: Rethinking Academic Humanitarianism: Transnational Knowledge Production and Academic Identity.

https://ow.ly/H82W50Yv06Q

Please contact sarmonitoring@nyu.edu to share specific news, sources, or reports of how universities, scholars, and students in #Iran are being impacted by the war.

Universities across Middle East shut down amid airstrikes Governments in UAE, Qatar and Bahrain order institutions to shift to online learning after Iran launches drone and missile attacks

News of #MiddleEast universities closing amidst the war in #Iran—and reports of student and scholar casualties—mark a somber moment for the global academic community. Reports are limited, but SAR continues to closely monitor the situation.
www.timeshighereducation.com/news/univers...

Missed last week’s webinar with SAR and @kthuniversity.bsky.social? A recording of their conversation on #F2T2025 and the worrying attacks on #academicfreedom and democracy can be watched here:
www.kth.se/en/bibliotek...

Recent drone strikes on universities in #Sudan are more than just deadly—they are a “direct assault on science, knowledge and the students’ right to pursue safe and stable education.” Read more from University World News:
www.universityworldnews.com/post.php

On Friday, March 6 from 12:10 - 13:00 join @kthuniversity.bsky.social and SAR to discuss the #F2T2025 report! This seminar will explore global attacks on #highered and the critical links between #academicfreedom and democracy. Join here:
www.kth.se/en/bibliotek...

Congratulations to the Student Advocacy Seminar at @monashuniversity.bsky.social, #Australia for being a Future Builder Award Finalist, which honors the students’ real-world advocacy campaigns for #wrongfullyimprisoned scholars and human rights! Learn more:
www.theaustralian.com.au/special-repo...

Between Risk and Research Dr. Halyna Tsyhanenko fled Ukraine for Switzerland in 2022, and settling in was challenging. With support from the international network «Scholars at Risk» (SAR), she joined the University of Basel, where she was able to continue her social psychology research for two years. In this interview, she shares her experience.

"Between Risk and Research" | Dr. Halyna Tsyhanenko describes fleeing war in Ukraine in March 2022, the impact of an academic placement coordinated by SAR member University of Basel and her subsequent research into the social inclusion of Ukrainian refugees. #SAR25
https://ow.ly/3PBX50Yoc3H

How does war reshape the built environment—and the cultural memory it holds?

Join us at the University of Chicago for a lecture by SAR-supported scholar Dr. Oksana Chabanyuk on the destruction of Ukraine’s architectural heritage during four years of war.

Register: https://ow.ly/o0jW50YpfOn

Photo credit: ©MCI/Aaron Heimerl

The total disregard for the wellbeing of Dr. Djalali is deeply disturbing. The Swedish govt must act to help #FreeDjalali and ensure that wrongfully detained scholars like him are not forgotten amidst the political chaos in #Iran. Learn more:
www.scholarsatrisk.org/action/schol...

Rapporter om kaos i Evinfängelset – Djalalis situation oklar Evinfängelset uppges ha kollapsat. Vida Djalali saknar besked om hennes man Ahmadreza Djalali. Det finns oro för matbrist och kaos, enligt TT.

Staff from Evin Prison—where #wrongfullyimprisoned scholar Dr. Ahmadreza Djalai has been held—have reportedly fled following military conflict in #Iran. Food distribution, basic services, and all contact with his wife have ceased.
www.tv4.se/artikel/44AB...

A new feature from the University of Ottawa highlights its decade-long commitment to hosting and supporting scholars through the Scholars at Risk (SAR) network.

Learn more about the impact of the SAR uOttawa Program: https://ow.ly/yj9z50YoG5x

#AcademicFreedom #ScholarsAtRisk #SARCAN

Scientific freedom as a human right: Insights from the dedicated ISC meeting in Aotearoa New Zealand - International Science Council As the world marks International Human Rights Day, the International Science Council (ISC) underscores that scientific freedom and the right to participate in and benefit from science are core human rights.

To mark #SAR25, Royal Society Te Apārangi convened a panel of experts from the International Science Council (ISC) to discuss "...declining trust in institutions and science as a human right."

Learn more: council.science/blog/scientific-freedom-...

Dr. Tetiana Hranchak on memory and media literacy, in the wake of war | Scholars at Risk Dr. Tetiana Hranchak on memory and media literacy, in the wake of war | This February marks the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a critical moment of instability and…

This week marks four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of #Ukraine. Read Dr. Tetiana Hranchak's reflection from February 2025 on the impact of the war on her academic work, Ukrainian national memory, and the critical need for media literacy. https://ow.ly/1C3l50V32ML

Thanks again to all the SAR Network institutions who participated in European #SARAdvocacyDays! We look forward to seeing what the next generation of #academicfreedom defenders does next. Learn more about Student Advocacy Seminars here:
www.scholarsatrisk.org/actions/stud...