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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 autonomy in Germany, as well as the efforts of rectors and other leaders to increase the resilience of the higher education system across the cultural, political, legal, and financial dimensions. Among other recommendations, Dr. Rosenthal offers a call for academia to engage the broader public with humility and in ways that can reach those who do not normally engage with research. This year, SAR celebrates 25 years of a global academic freedom movement strong enough to meet the challenges ahead. In this special series, we are inviting higher education leaders from across the network and around the world to share what the 25th anniversary theme Truth Matters means to them and their work. Join the movement »

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 institutions when students test the boundaries of creative expression, and on the unequal ability of different communities to make their voices heard. For Reeve, discomfort can be central to learning: "At the moment, when you feel that you are being existentially challenged, that is the moment of maximum inquiry. That is the moment of maximum truth-telling." He also discusses supporting an at-risk Iranian filmmaker and how even smaller institutions can participate meaningfully in scholar protection and student advocacy.

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 Phillip Schwartz Initiative (PSI). Her colleague, Dr. Magdalena Sut-Lohmann, shares a compelling example, highlighting her department's work with a PSI-supported scholar from Ukraine studying soil from the frontline to assess war damage on some of the world's most fertile land, and the impact of this research on protecting valuable food sources for society. Tune in to hear how TUB views its role in creating spaces where research, knowledge exchange, and collaboration in service of the public good can flourish. This year, SAR celebrates 25 years of a global academic freedom movement strong enough to meet the challenges ahead. In this special series, we are inviting higher education leaders from across the network and around the world to share what the 25th anniversary theme Truth Matters means to them and their work. Join the movement »

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 academic freedom, explain the risks faced by academics in Indonesia, and consider the role of academia in protecting truth-seeking. "When academic work is done with this purpose, [of being a voice for the voiceless and helping those who are often ignored], it stops being just a list of facts and starts being a way to fairness in society," says Dr. A'yun. This year, SAR celebrates 25 years of a global academic freedom movement strong enough to meet the challenges ahead. In this special series, we are inviting higher education leaders from across the network and around the world to share what the 25th anniversary theme Truth Matters means to them and their work. Join the movement »

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 furthers that mission by also hosting displaced academics—including Ukrainian scholars—with Dr. Egnell noting that maintaining higher education during war serves as a vital act of hope, societal continuity, and resistance against authoritarian trends. This year, SAR celebrates 25 years of a global academic freedom movement strong enough to meet the challenges ahead. In this special series, we are inviting higher education leaders from across the network and around the world to share what the 25th anniversary theme Truth Matters means to them and their work. Join the movement »

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 truth," she says. "And if it is not, it is ideology." As a longtime member of the SAR network and a founding member of the SAR Germany section, IPU also demonstrates how welcoming at-risk academics enriches university communities, inspires student activism, and safeguards the global pursuit of knowledge. This year, SAR celebrates 25 years of a global academic freedom movement strong enough to meet the challenges ahead. In this special series, we are inviting partners from across the network and around the world to share what the 25th anniversary theme Truth Matters means to them and their work. Join the movement »

"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 post-pandemic, the university is practicing openness through direct community engagement—opening a dedicated communication hub and launching a mobile science bus to bring research directly to rural areas. Dr. Marx emphasizes that staying open and showing society the tangible value of higher education is essential to protecting academic freedom and keeping truth at the center of public life. This year, SAR celebrates 25 years of a global academic freedom movement strong enough to meet the challenges ahead. In this special series, we are inviting partners from across the network and around the world to share what the 25th anniversary theme Truth Matters means to them and their work. Join the movement »

Camilla Croso, Executive Director of the Coalition for Academic Freedom in the Americas (CAFA), one of three coalitions for academic 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 CAFA's work to deepen collaboration, in particular through partnerships between the global North and South. She also highlights that creativity cuts across all intellectual areas, uniting academics, artists, and journalists. "We can become more powerful in our struggle if we unite."

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 advocacy seminar students and situated within the university's botanical garden, honoring scholars who have been wrongfully imprisoned. In this conversation, Professor Paul and SAR Executive Director Rob Quinn discuss what we can learn from history and how universities can lead the way in declaring that Truth Matters.

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 "in many contexts, researchers are threatened because they produce or defend truths." Professor Weyembergh also draws on her academic background to explore how truth-seeking is vital in criminal law and considers the role of universities in cultivating an "epistemic humility" in which professors and researchers can revise their views when new evidence emerges. "Truth is not imposed, but is pursued through critical reasoning, open debate, and scientific rigor. That is the basic principle of ULB." This year, SAR celebrates 25 years of a global academic freedom movement strong enough to meet the challenges ahead. Join us: www.scholarsatrisk.org/join-the-movement

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 his research on the military and democracy. After an international campaign on his behalf, the charges against him were dropped, but he lost his university position, and his visa was revoked. He is currently in the United States, where he notes: "If I am outside of Thailand, I can go on with my work and probably do a better job of describing the problems of the Thai military."  Professor Tyrell Haberkorn is an expert on state violence in Thailand. She highlights the chilling effect of Paul's arrest on scholars and the wider society, as well as the history of lèse-majesté law in Thailand. "People were jailed for performing plays, for having conversations in taxis, for bathroom graffiti, for social media posts."

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 involvement in the disappearances or subsequent cover-ups, including military officials and organized crime members. His team also worked closely with the families of victims and their legal representatives in their search for truth and justice. Facing significant political interference in the case, Omar resigned as special prosecutor in 2022. Through SAR's Practitioners at Risk program, Omar is a visiting scholar at the Human Rights Center at the University of California at Berkeley's School of Law. There, he continues to work on the Ayotzinapa case through his research and teaching, while drawing on his experience with the case to work on broader issues of impunity for human rights violations in Mexico and beyond.  See SAR's monitoring of the 2014 Ayotzinapa case: https://ow.ly/blY950VwQTm Listen to "After Ayotzinapa" on Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting: https://revealnews.org/article/after-ayotzinapa/

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 stepped down from her academic position in Iran. Her resignation email quickly went viral on social media and she has not been able to return since, knowing she would risk imprisonment by Iranian authorities. "As a scientist, you have never trained to be a social activist or political activist, but in some countries, your actions can be considered a political act," she says. "A simple resignation can lead to exile."' In response, Dr. Erfani co-founded the International Community of Iranian Academics (ICOIA), a group providing community and support to academics of Iranian heritage around the world. Now at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, she continues her work as a researcher and staunch advocate for displaced academics worldwide.  Learn more about Dr. Erfani's work: https://sites.google.com/view/eerfani/home Learn more about the International Community of Iranian Academics (ICOIA): https://icoia.org/ This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Fragile Freedom podcast, a joint-initiative of the German science communications agency con gressa and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of Science Year 2024 Freedom. See the Fragile Freedom podcast here: https://fragile-freedom.podigee.io/

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-makers, and scholars. Mosul was liberated from ISIS in 2017 but only after an extended, months-long battle that left much of the city badly damaged. Omar, now based in France, remains deeply connected to Mosul, having launched numerous social initiatives to rebuild the city and document the stories of its inhabitants. "The moment you are labeled as a scholar, and the moment you are free, then you have to give back to the society," he says. "It's a must."

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 help academics and higher education institutions support one another. She emphasizes that academic freedom matters for all, and identifies the need for increased dialogue on related issues, particularly in states most at risk of repression. "It is really important that we embrace and understand why academic freedom is important for the future of countries," she says. "Without being able to talk freely and write freely and express ourselves freely and learn freely, I think there will be a major obstacle for us to advance as a country."