Headshot of Dr. Laura Murphy.
The mission of Dr. Laura Murphy’s case was to secure her academic freedom and to take a stand against state suppression of vital human rights research.
The Campaign
Dr. Laura Murphy approached Leigh Day Solicitors when her university, Sheffield Hallam (SHU), imposed a prohibition on research on forced labour, including in China. Dr. Murphy is an expert on contemporary slavery and forced labour and had published multiple reports on links between forced labour in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and global supply chains.
Leigh Day, supported by funding from Law for Change and advised by Counsel (Darryl Hutcheon), wrote to SHU raising concerns that SHU were breaching Dr. Murphy’s rights and freedoms and requesting full details of the restrictions in place. In tandem, requests for documents and information were submitted to SHU which, when released, showed SHU had succumbed to direct threats from China’s National Security Services to curtail Dr. Murphy’s work and halt publication of her reports. Under the threat of judicial review proceedings and after the exposure of this information, SHU rescinded their decision, apologised to Dr. Murphy, and pledged to protect her academic freedom and support her research, including on China.
Headshot of Claire Powell.
Laura’s case raised the profile of these vital issues, and we are honoured that this work has been recognised by the SMK National Campaigner Awards. Laura spoke up at personal and professional cost because she felt that she had to do so. Her case gave a voice to those unable to speak out and showed that freedom of speech, at its heart, is about speaking truth to power.”
Claire Powell
Solicitor, Leigh Day
The Change
Dr. Murphy’s case exposed the threat posed to academic freedom and freedom of expression at UK universities by foreign state powers. The documents and information released through her case showed the PRC had monitored and sought to suppress her work, and that UK universities, often in response to commercial pressures and the requirement to recruit international students, were acquiescing to these threats.
Through a combination of pre-action correspondence, subject access and freedom of information requests and a high-profile media campaign, Dr. Murphy secured an apology and a commitment to support her work.
More broadly, her case provoked a wider conversation on the risks posed by foreign state interference and the threat to freedom of expression, in particular vital research that exposes human rights abuses. Dr. Murphy’s case was one of the first to utilise the new provisions under the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 and attracted responses from the Foreign Office, the Prime Minister’s Office, and the Department of Education. It is understood that the UK Government raised Dr. Murphy’s case with the PRC directly, and the case has drawn global attention.
In recent days, the Department of Education has announced plans to implement the long-awaited complaints mechanism, for academics and others to directly raise freedom of speech concerns with the regulator.
The Future
The issues raised by Dr. Murphy’s case remain high-profile, and the need to secure better academic freedoms at UK universities continues. This is particularly so in the case of vital human rights research which exposes powerful foreign states and raises the profile of the suppression and ill-treatment of Uyghurs, Hong Kongers, and Tibetans to name a few.
“The role of the UK government and the regulator must be at the centre of this work,” said Claire. “The team will continue to press for better and more comprehensive safeguards so others can speak out on these issues and not face the chilling effect of state suppression alone.”
Who else was involved?
Leigh Day Solicitors, Claire Powell, Tessa Gregory, Lucy Talbot-Martin, Darryl Hutcheon, Dr. Laura Murphy, Law for Change, Matrix Law, Stop Uyghur Genocide, World Uyghur Congress, UCU, and Bob Jeffrey.
