Scholars At Risk (SAR)

2021 Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award Recipient

Scholars At Risk (SAR)

At a time when academic freedom is under threat in numerous countries, the work of SAR to promote academic freedom is invaluable to global science systems. The sanctuary and assistance provided by SAR has enabled hundreds of scholars around the world to freely continue their academic careers in safety. This work has lifelong benefit for individual scholars and their families, but also serves to preserve their skills, knowledge, and intellectual contributions for the benefit of wider society. Thus, the work of SAR directly promotes science, along with other academic disciplines, as a global public good.

The SAR staff meets with scholars at New York University in 2005
Plenary discussions at the SAR 2007 Global Congress, San Francisco, USA
Participants at the SAR Ireland launch in 2009. To date, SAR has launched fifteen sections globally.

A speaker at the 2016 Global Congress: “Universities in a Dangerous World” at McGill University, Canada
Students meet with government officials and civil society actors in 2017 regarding imprisoned scholars and scientists as part of SAR’s annual advocacy training event, Student Advocacy Day, in Washington, DC.

Turkey’s Academics for Peace accept the Scholars at Risk Courage to Think Defender Award for their “extraordinary efforts in building academic solidarity and in promoting the principles of academic freedom, freedom of inquiry, and the peaceful exchange of ideas” at the 2018 Global Conference in Berlin, Germany.
Academics for Peace, SAR 2018 Global Congress, Berlin, Germany
Outreach at the SAR 2018 Global Congress, Berlin, Germany
SAR staff at the virtual SAR 2020 Global Congress, themed “Truth, Power & Society: The Promise of Higher Education in Challenging Times.”

Latest from SAR:

Podcast

🎙 Listen to SAR’s “Free to Think” podcast, which features conversation with interesting, thoughtful, and inspiring individuals whose research, teaching, or expression falls at the always sensitive intersection of power and ideas.

Free to Think 2021

👋 SAR also invites you to save Thursday, December 9 for the launch of their Free to Think 2021 annual report and the presentation of this year’s Courage to Think award. For more, visit the website

The 2021 Prize

All 2021 awardees received an original piece of art by scientific photographer Karl Gaff who specializes in microscopy art. Scholars At Risk received ‘Sunlit Plants’.

Read more about Karl Gaff

Connect with Scholars At Risk

> Learn more about the ISC Awards

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    Note: Please note that the ‘Science Summit at the UN General Assembly’ in September 2023 is not an event of the International Science Council. The International Science Council has no association with this event nor with the organizer of the event.
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