China pressed Sheffield Hallam to halt Uyghur research
If you’re a student or a lecturer, this is what academic freedom looks like when it’s tested in the real world. Documents seen by the BBC indicate that over more than two years China sought to stop Sheffield Hallam University publishing sensitive research on alleged forced labour involving Uyghur Muslims. Staff based in China reported being threatened by people they described as National Security Service officers, and access to the university’s websites inside China was blocked, hampering recruitment and routine student support.
Once UK ministers were told, the then Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, warned his Chinese counterpart that the UK would not accept attempts to suppress academic work at British universities, according to the BBC. Officials also raised the issue with China’s most senior education minister. Inside the university, a July 2024 email captured the dilemma starkly: keeping business in China and publishing the research could not both be done.
The research at the centre of the row was led by Professor Laura Murphy at Sheffield Hallam’s Helena Kennedy Centre. Since 2021 her team has examined supply chains in solar panels, car parts and cotton to ask whether goods reaching Western markets might include inputs made with forced labour in Xinjiang. Beijing firmly denies these allegations, and rejects wider claims by rights groups of crimes against humanity or genocide against the Uyghur population.
After pressure from the Chinese state and a separate libel case, Sheffield Hallam decided in late 2024 not to publish a final report by Professor Murphy’s team. In early 2025, the university told her she could not continue research into supply chains and forced labour in China. That decision was later reversed; the university has apologised and says she can resume her work.
Professor Murphy began legal action, arguing the university failed to protect her academic freedom under the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023. Using a subject access request, she obtained internal documents which she says show the university negotiated directly with a foreign intelligence service, trading academic freedom for access to the Chinese student market. Sheffield Hallam says its earlier stance reflected a complex situation and an inability to secure professional indemnity insurance at the time, and it now commits to supporting her research.
Union voices added pressure. Jo Grady, the general secretary of the University and College Union, called it “incredibly worrying” that a UK university appeared to silence its own professor at the request of a foreign state. A UK government spokesperson told the BBC that intimidation, harassment or harm by any foreign power in the UK will not be tolerated.
Quick explainer: who are the Uyghurs? Uyghurs are a mostly Muslim ethnic group living mainly in Xinjiang, north‑west China. Over recent years, journalists, researchers and human rights organisations have documented detentions, surveillance and alleged coerced labour programmes. China says these claims are false, and that its policies target extremism and support development.
Quick explainer: why do international students matter to university budgets? In England, fees for home undergraduates are capped, while costs have risen. Many universities use income from international students to balance the books. Internal emails cited by the BBC show Sheffield Hallam worried in 2022 about a possible boycott in China after official criticism, and the university recorded £3.8m of income from China and Hong Kong in 2021/22.
The recruitment picture helps explain the tension. An internal note said around 500 Chinese students enrolled in 2018, numbers fell during the pandemic and did not rebound as they did in other markets. Sheffield Hallam says it enrolled only 73 students from China in 2024/25 and insists China is not a significant market for it. The Chinese Embassy, by contrast, points out that more than 200,000 Chinese students study in the UK overall.
What the internal documents say about China‑side disruptions matters for you as applicants and staff. A risk summary dated 9 December 2024 records that in August 2022 access to Sheffield Hallam’s websites was blocked in China and emails to and from the university were disabled. Students in China could not complete enrolment, arrange their welcome or view course information - effects the university says hurt recruitment in 2023/24 with further decline expected in 2024/25.
The pressure on staff is described in detail. On 18 April 2024, an email stated “things in Beijing have kicked off”. The risk summary says three National Security Service officers visited the university’s China office, questioned a local staff member for two hours, used a threatening tone and made clear the research should stop. On a later visit, officers said connectivity problems were due to the Uyghur research being available on the university website.
By September 2024, the same document says a decision not to publish the final phase of research was communicated to the National Security Service. Relations then “immediately improved” and the apparent threat to staff wellbeing eased. Sheffield Hallam cautions that internal messages need context and do not, on their own, represent university policy.
A separate legal thread runs through this story. Smart Shirts Ltd, a Hong Kong garment supplier named in a December 2023 report by Sheffield Hallam’s Forced Labour Lab, sued for libel. In December 2024 a High Court judge found, at a preliminary stage, that the report was defamatory; a full trial is pending. The university says its insurers subsequently withdrew defamation cover for its wider research institute - part of why, at the time, it paused the work. Professor Murphy had also taken a career break in late 2023 to work with the US Department of Homeland Security on implementing the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act.
What the law says: the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 places a duty on universities to promote freedom of speech and protect academic freedom. Professor Murphy’s lawyers argue that a lack of insurance and non‑specific safety concerns do not give universities carte blanche to ban work on a particular country. For you, the takeaway is simple: this is an early test of how the new law will be applied when research is politically sensitive and cross‑border.
Where the debate lands now matters for teaching and for your research projects. After the apology and a pledge to protect academic freedom, Professor Murphy is not currently pursuing legal action. The University and College Union wants clearer safeguards for researchers under pressure. Baroness Helena Kennedy KC, patron of the centre, warns that over‑reliance on international fees leaves universities vulnerable; any limits on lawful research should concern us all. As learners, we should ask our own universities how risk, insurance and free‑speech commitments apply to our seminars, dissertations and research programmes.
A note on China’s response for your media literacy toolkit. The Chinese Embassy in London told the BBC the Helena Kennedy Centre’s reports on Xinjiang are false and flawed, and alleged some authors received funding from US agencies. Professor Murphy says her career funding has included the US National Endowment for the Humanities, the US Department of Justice, USAID, the US State Department and the UK Foreign Office. Funding sources are worth reading closely - and so are methods and evidence - when you assess any research claim. That habit of careful reading is a skill you can use on every story like this.