China intimidated UK university to ditch human rights research, documents show

Sheffield Hallam University apologises to Professor Laura Murphy for restricting her academic freedom.

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Sheffield Hallam University staff in China were threatened by individuals described by them as being from China's National Security Service who demanded the research being done in Sheffield be halted.

And access to the university's websites from China was blocked, impeding its ability to recruit Chinese students, in a campaign of threats and intimidation lasting more than two years.

In an internal email from July 2024, university officials said "attempting to retain the business in China and publication of the research are now untenable bedfellows".

When the UK government learned of the case, the then Foreign Secretary David Lammy issued a warning to his Chinese counterpart that it would not tolerate attempts to suppress academic freedoms at UK universities, the BBC understands.