Scholars at Risk

Network internazionale per la libertà accademica

NEWS AND DOCUMENTS:

Report on the Training Course “Guidelines for hosting at-risk scholars"

In the period November-December 2023, the Training and Hosting Working Group of the SAR Italy Network organized a free online training course, consisting of 4 meetings of two hours each (for a total of 8 hours), entitled “Guidelines for hosting at-risk scholars” addressed to the academic and administrative staff of SAR-Italy Universities and buddy students working with refugee or at-risk students.
The overall goal of this course was to provide and improve the skills of the university community, starting with SAR Italy Hosting Guidelines and acquainting the universities that are already part of the network with concrete protection actions implemented by SAR Italy while simultaneously going in-depth into legal, administrative and fiscal requirements that must be considered when implementing these actions.

The course registered 500 subscriptions from 22 universities/research centers members of the SAR Italy network.

At the following link the complete report.

Registrazioni degli incontri della SAR Italy’s second speaker series - Primavera 2022
22 Febbraio, 25 Marzo, 22 Aprile 2022
Ciclo di incontri sulla libertà accademica in contesti a rischio

Tre incontri aperti a tutti gli interessati sulla situazione in Afghanistan, Iran e Bielorussia con un focus sulla libertà accademica e azioni di advocacy.
Programma.

Free to Think 2023 and Courage to Think Award

The report, based on data compiled by SAR’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project, analyzes attacks on higher education communities around the world, including violent attacks on universities, wrongful imprisonment and prosecutions of scholars, and attacks on student expression (409 cases in 66 different Countries), held between 1 July 2022 and 30 June 2023.

Scholars at Risk (SAR) is an international network of universities founded in 1999 at the University of Chicago with the aim of promoting academic freedom and protect scholars whose lives are in danger, or whose work is severely compromised. SAR is part of the Network for Education and Academic Rights (NEAR), and the Scholars Rescue Fund (SRF) - Institute of International Education (IIE). The network currently includes 450 universities in 40 countries.

SAR has three core activities

Protection for scholars: SAF works with partner universities to create temporary scholarships (3-24 months) for scholars who apply for protection. The funding of these scholarships is entirely provided by the host universities, although SAR promotes relations with foundations and international funding bodies (e.g. the Scholars Rescue Fund - SRF).

Advocacy support: to raise awareness in civil and political society of cases of infringement of academic freedom in different countries.

Research and training initiatives on human rights, academic freedom, academic refugees and policies for hosting researchers and students, through the organisation of seminars, conferences, talk series, monitoring projects, and participation in Erasmus+ programmes.

SAR at the University of Verona

The University of Verona, member of SAR Italia, participates in national coordination meetings and has one representative in each of the three working groups established for the year 2020:

Reception and support for scholars
Outreach and lobbying/institutional relations
Partnerships and synergies at the national level

Obligations of the partner universities

SAR membership requires each partner university to commit to the principle of academic freedom, to subscribe an annual fee either as a contributing member ($1000) or as a sustaining member ($5000), and to appoint a representative.
SAR membership can only be applied for by universities. SAR also encourages the establishment of national networks of partner universities in order to strengthen fundraising, advocacy and information activities in each country, and to promote cooperation with other existing national networks (e.g. in the United States of America, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, and Norway).

SAR Italia

SAR Italia, the Italian section of Scholars at Risk, was established on 19 February 2019. SAR Italia is a network comprising 21 Italian universities and research institutes. In setting up SAR Italia, the governing bodies of the participating universities, along with their lecturers, students and staff, wish to express solidarity with all those scholars and universities in the world who live in situations where academic freedom is restricted, and research, teaching and educational activities are suppressed. SAR Italia intends to operate through the dissemination of information and the exchange of good practices, as well as cooperating in protection and advocacy initiatives, and in the organisation of events aimed at raising awareness of these issues.
The universities that are part of the Italian section of Scholars at Risk are full members of SAR Italia.
For the period 2019-2021, SAR Italia is led by the Universities of Trento and Padua. These two institutions, together with the Universities of Cagliari and Trieste and the Scuola Normale Superiore, constitute the Supervisory Board of the association.

Appelli e comunicati

Liberazione di Patrick Zaki: il messaggio del Consiglio delle studentesse e degli studenti di ateneo (luglio 2023)

Liberazione di Patrick Zaki

Comunicato stampa SAR Italia relativo alla situazione degli studenti e studentesse in Iran
Ottobre 2022

Azione immediata necessaria per salvare la vita del dottor Ahmadreza Djalali: appello di SAR Italia
La comunità accademica internazionale ha appreso dall’agenzia iraniana ISNA che le autorità iraniane hanno deciso di eseguire la sentenza di morte per il dottor Ahmadreza Djalali.
SAR Italia chiede al governo italiano e alle istituzioni della Repubblica di intervenire al più presto presso i rappresentanti delle autorità iraniane per chiedere la liberazione del dottor Djalali.

Appello di SAR International per studenti arrestati in Bielorussia
Leggi l'appello

Restore Academic Freedom and Autonomy at Boğaziçi University
Leggi l'appello

Appello di SAR Italia al Governo e al Parlamento italiano ad intervenire immediatamente a sostegno di studiose/i e ricercatori/trici dell’Afghanistan
Leggi l'appello

Appello di SAR Italia in supporto all'Università Boğaziçi
Leggi l'appello

4 febbraio 2021, ore 17.00
Webinar: Avvocati e docenti a rischio nel mondo
Programma

3 febbraio 2021 - Academic Freedom in challenging times
Scholars at Risk Italia, Scholars at Risk Sweden
Programma

Academic Freedom for Boğaziçi University Students and Faculty : sostegno di SAR Italia.
Leggi l'appello

Appello del network Scholars at Risk (SAR) per fermare l’esecuzione dello studioso iraniano Ahmadreza Djajali che ha lavorato anche presso l’Università del Piemonte orientale

SAR International - Contacts

SAR International Network - New York University
194 Mercer Street, 4th Floor
New York, New York 10012 USA
Ph: +1-212-998-2179
Fax: +1-212-995-4402
Email: scholarsatrisk@nyu.edu
Website: www.scholarsatrisk.org.

SAR Italia - Contacts

Ester Gallo (Università di Trento) ester.gallo@unitn.it; scholarsatrisk@unitn.it
Claudia Padovani (Università di Padova), claudia.padovani@unipd.it
Francesca Helm (Università di Padova), francesca.helm@unipd.it

SAR Verona - Contacts

Supporto alla cooperazione scientifica internazionale
Area Ricerca
Via San Francesco, 22
37129 Verona - IT
Tel: +39 045 802 8591
Email: international.cooperation@ateneo.univr.it

Scholars at Risk