SAR-Scholars at Risk appeals for the academic community in Afghanistan

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Institutional Communication Service

27 August 2021

The mission of the SAR, an international network of institutions and individuals, is to protect threatened scholars and promote academic freedom by, for instance, arranging temporary academic positions at member universities and colleges. In this way, scholars can keep working on their ideas and research until conditions improve and are able to return to their home countries.

Scholars at Risk has begun to receive a high volume of applications from scholars/practitioners in Afghanistan due to the rapidly deteriorating conditions in the country. Most are individuals who have publicly supported, through their teaching, research, publications or public activities, a pluralist, rights-respecting, democratic future for Afghanistan, and as a result, face a grave and immediate risk of retaliatory violence. 

USI has been a member of the SAR Network since 2016 sharing those values and principles. The International Relations and Study Abroad service will provide administrative assistance and support to USI academics who may be interested in welcoming a SAR candidate within their areas of academic interest and competencies. SAR candidates may be eligible for the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) scholarships within the scope of its Scientific Exchanges funding scheme; they can also be supported by personal academic funds and work on research projects too. 

 

Through the Scholars at Risk Action, we wish to promote the need and opportunity to host Afghan scholars within USI research teams, and we invite to take the SAR survey of potential host campuses for scholars/practitioners from Afghanistan.