Free to Think Podcast

In this episode, SAR Executive Director Rob Quinn speaks with Dr. Walter Rosenthal, President of the German Rectors Conference and former president of the University of Jena. Dr. Rosenthal reflects on what the "Truth Matters" theme means to him as a scientist, highlighting the essential link between academic freedom and the scientific search for truth. He discusses recent declines in institutional...

Dr. Charles Reeve, Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Visual and Critical Studies at the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD), sees  Truth Matters  as a challenge to protect expression not only when it is comfortable, but when it unsettles deeply held beliefs. In conversation with SAR Executive Director Robert Quinn, Reeve reflects on the responsibilities of instructors and i...

Universities serve an essential role in democratic societies by facilitating the creation and exchange of knowledge. That's the case made by Dr. Angela Ittel, President of Technische Universität Braunschweig, in this episode. One way universities live up to that purpose is by welcoming and including scholars who are at risk, Dr. Ittel says, which TU Braunschweig does through their participation in...

The Indonesian Campus Workers' Union ( Serikat   Pekerja  Kampus/ SPK) serves as a unified voice for over 2,050 permanent and casual higher education workers—including lecturers, researchers, and administrative staff—across public and private universities throughout Indonesia.  Dhia Al Uyun and Dr. Rafiqa Qurrata A'yun of SPK describe how guaranteeing basic labor rights and welfare helps advance a...

Amid conflicts and political tensions around the world, the Swedish Defence University sees its role as a source of research and education that contributes to a "robust and democratic society." That is the contention of Vice Chancellor Dr. Robert Egnell, who highlights SDU's unique role in educating officers and civilians, as well as helping the broader public make sense of complicated times. SDU...

Prof. Dr. Lilli Gast, Chair of the Supervisory Board and Senior Professor at the International Psychoanalytic University (IPU) in Berlin, sees SAR's 25th anniversary theme Truth Matters across her work. In discussing psychoanalysis as a "project of enlightenment," Dr. Gast reflects on the fundamental connection between psychoanalysis, truth-seeking, and academic freedom. "All science is about trut...

"We need to be open in order to be strong," asserts Professor Dr. Andreas Marx, President of Friedrich Schiller University Jena. Framing openness as a necessity for both academic excellence and societal resilience, Dr. Marx discusses how his institution lives out its core mission of "Light, Life, Liberty." To counter local political pressures on academic freedom and rebuild public trust in science...

Ca mi lla  Croso, Executive Director of the Coalition for A ca demic Freedom in the Ameri ca s (CAFA), one of three coalitions for a ca demic freedom founded in partnership with Scholars at Risk, joins SAR Executive Director Rob Quinn to discuss the importance of truth-seeking for a healthy democracy. Croso describes  CA FA's work to deepen collaboration,  in particular through  partnerships betwe...

Threats to truth, inquiry, and free expression abound today. For Professor Dr. Martin Paul, Rector of Ruhr University Bochum, that means universities should be even more vocal about how those values are embodied on campus. RUB is a hive of activity on these themes, with threatened scholars continuing their research, student advocacy seminars, and even a "Garden of Refuge" exhibition created by SAR...

The Université libre de Bruxelles has a long tradition of hosting threatened scholars from all over the world. In this conversation with SAR Executive Director Rob Quinn, Anne Weyembergh, Professor of Law and Vice Rector for External Relations and Cooperation, describes the motivations for and impact of hosting scholars, such as keeping scholarship "free from repression, persecution," given that "...

Dr. Tyrell Haberkorn and Dr. Paul Chambers join Free to Think to discuss the use of Thailand's lèse-majesté law to intimidate and silence scholars. After three decades living and working in Thailand, Professor Paul Chambers was arrested in April 2025 and charged under Article 112 of the Thai Criminal Code with lèse-majesté, or insulting the monarchy. He believes he was targeted in retaliation for...

Free to Think speaks with Omar Gómez Trejo, a lawyer and human rights advocate from Mexico. Omar gained prominence as the special prosecutor leading the investigation into the disappearance of 43 student teachers from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College in the city of Iguala, Mexico.  From 2019-2022, Omar's team secured indictments for over 100 federal, state, and local authorities for their in...

As the first in her family to attend university, Dr. Encieh Erfani was drawn to the stars. Her interest led her to physics and cosmology, examining the origin of the universe – a rare subject in Iran at the time.  Dr. Erfani was traveling outside of Iran in September 2022 when the "Women, Life, Freedom" movement began, sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. In solidarity, Dr. Erfani stepp...

Omar Mohammed first gained international prominence in 2014 as the anonymous blogger "Mosul Eye", risking his life to document daily existence in the occupied city of Mosul, Iraq. His blog was considered one of the few reliable, real-time sources of information on life under the Islamic State (aka ISIS or Daesh in Arabic), and proved to be a critical source of information for journalists, policy-m...

Free to Think speaks with Dr. Khoo Ying Hooi, an Associate Professor at the University of Malaya and 2022-23 Mellon/SAR Academic Freedom Fellow, on academic freedom and coalition building in Southeast Asia.  Ying Hooi discusses her research and shares how building an academic freedom coalition across Southeast Asia – a region that spans 11 countries and represents a range of universities – can hel...

Free to Think speaks with three university students who express the profound impact of joining the SAR student advocacy community. "Being involved in the amplification of the voice of somebody who's marginalized doesn't just affect the person who's marginalized," says Samkele Shange, a SAR Student Advocacy Seminar participant at the University of South Eastern Norway. "It also affects you, the per...

Free to Think speaks with academic, policy analyst and human rights activist Mubashar Hasan. He describes how in Bangladesh certain research topics are off-limits, particularly those that threaten the power of the ruling class, and speaks from first-hand experience — Hasan survived 44 days of "enforced disappearance" in Bangladesh in 2017. Now based in Sydney, Australia, Hasan describes the 'menta...

Free to Think speaks with Katrin Kinzelbach and Lars Lott, researchers behind the Academic Freedom Index (AFI) which assesses levels of academic freedom in 179 countries and territories from 1900 to the present. Recent headlines suggest academic freedom is in retreat everywhere, but is it true? Katrin Kinzelbach and Lars Lott discuss the latest data from the AFI and how academic freedom may fit in...

Free to Think speaks with Achiro P. Olwoch , an award-winning writer, playwright, and filmmaker from Northern Uganda, and current scholar-at-risk and Weiss International Fellow at Barnard College in New York City. Achiro describes her recent play 'The Survival,' the impact of anti-LGBTQ+ laws in Uganda, and how living in New York has made her a "bolder artist." She also offers advice to fellow art...

In February 2022, Artem Nazarko was in Odesa, Ukraine with his family, coming to terms with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. "It was huge traffic jams everywhere, empty shops, panic and confusion" he says. "No food, no petrol. It was tough times, and dark days." Two years later, Artem is a PhD candidate and MSCA4Ukraine fellow at the University of Bergen in Norway. He is working in international c...

Emma Hartley and Jonathan Gelfond, undergraduates at UC Santa Barbara in California, weren't sure if elected officials in Washington DC would agree to speak with them. They were advocating on behalf of Patrick Zaki – a University of Bologna graduate student formerly detained for two years, in apparent retaliation for his human rights research in Egypt. Though released in 2021, authorities continue...

Free to Think speaks with Shai Reshef , President of the University of the People,  the first non-profit, tuition-free, American, accredited, online university whose mission is to help students worldwide overcome financial, geographic, political, and personal obstacles to higher education. Since August 2021, University of the People has received increasing numbers of applications from women in Afg...

Free to Think speaks with political scientist Sol Iglesias about "violence for social control" and threats to scholars in the Philippines, including online trolling, "red-tagging," threats, and violent attacks.  Iglesias, who is a professor at the University of the Philippines and contributes to SAR's monitoring of attacks on higher education in the country, believes academic freedom is the lifebl...

In Herat, Afghanistan, Zahra Hakimi was a faculty member, midwife, family planning trainer, and women's reproductive healthcare provider. She often worked in secret and at personal risk to provide treatment to survivors of sexual assault.  Within a week of taking control of her city, the Taliban raided Hakimi's home. They condemned her work as "anti-Islam." They threatened her and her husband, and...

Venezuelan higher education is in crisis. After decades of political attacks on universities, many professors struggle to survive a national economic collapse that threatens the whole society with runaway inflation, skyrocketing poverty, and mass outward migration of millions. Professors rely on multiple side jobs and foreign remittances but still can't make ends meet. How and why do they go on? ...