An event next Tuesday will re-launch a UWindsor chapter of Scholars at Risk, a global network of academic institutions organized to support academic freedom and defend the human rights of scholars around the world.

The University hosted an at-risk scholar in 2018 and having rejoined the network, is hoping to host another from September 2023, says law professor Chris Waters, chair of the local working group.

“With threats to higher education in Iran, Ukraine, and Afghanistan, among other places, the protection, advocacy, and education work of Scholars at Risk has never been more important,” he says. “We hope this relaunch will raise awareness and help create a sustainable basis for our engagement with SAR, in particular as we gear up to again host at-risk scholars at the University of Windsor.”

The Oct. 25 event will feature guest speakers Viviana Fernandez, assistant director of the Human Rights Research and Education Centre at the University of Ottawa and past chair of the Scholars at Risk Canada steering committee, and Shuchi Karim, a feminist researcher from Bangladesh, visiting professor at Carleton University, and project director of Afghan At-risk Scholars, Activists, and Students.

Co-sponsored by the Office of the Provost and the Graduate Student Society, it begins at noon in the Oak Room, Vanier Hall, with a complimentary lunch. Register here to attend.