UK university halted forced labour research after China pressure, lawyers claim

A university halted an academic’s research into forced labour in China after facing pressure from Chinese authorities, lawyers have claimed.

Leigh Day Solicitors said internal documents from Sheffield Hallam University obtained by freedom of information and subject access requests suggest the university had banned Professor Laura Murphy from continuing her research on forced labour.

The documents obtained indicated the university had placed restrictions on Professor Murphy’s research in response to direct threats from Chinese state security, solicitors claim.

The university had since apologised to Professor Murphy and committed to supporting her research, a Sheffield Hallam spokesperson said.

She told BBC Radio 4 they had started to hear last April that Chinese authorities were “intimidating and harassing and interrogating the staff that the university has in Beijing”.

Asked about the reports, the prime minister’s official spokesperson told reporters it is “absolutely unacceptable” for any foreign state to intimidate, harass or harm individuals in the UK.

The spokesperson added ministers raised the case with Beijing, and the Government welcomes the university’s decision to support this research.

The BBC reported Professor Murphy was told after returning from a career break in early 2025 that the university had decided not to continue with her research due to “the corporate insurance position” and “our duty of care to colleagues working in both China and the UK”.

A spokesperson for the university said its decision not to continue with Professor Murphy’s research was taken “based on our understanding of a complex set of circumstances at the time, including being unable to secure the necessary professional indemnity insurance”.

Sheffield Hallam added that the decision “was not based on commercial interest in China” and that China was not a significant international student market for the university.

Internal communications cited were out of context and did not represent university policy, Sheffield Hallam said.

Leigh Day said the documents showed the People’s Republic of China (PRC) confirmed they had blocked Sheffield Hallam University’s access to the internet in China in response to publications from the Forced Labour Lab, an initiative at the university’s Helena Kennedy Centre.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday, Professor Murphy said: “The fact that the UK higher ed sector is so underfunded makes them vulnerable to the necessity, or the perceived necessity, at least, of recruiting international students. And so as long as we are underfunding our universities in this way, we’re going to find that they’re going to be prey to these kinds of attacks.”

In 2024/25, Sheffield Hallam had 73 international student enrolments from China out of 4,204 in total.

Asked if she believed there were explicit threats by China to university staff, Professor Murphy said it was hard for her to know, but that her understanding from the university and the documents was that “state security approached the staff who was doing student recruitment in Beijing and interrogated them, aggressively threatened them and demanded that the university stop my research and take it down from the website”.

Leigh Day said it had cited the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 in a pre-action letter. The Act puts more responsibility on universities to protect free speech and academic freedom.

Professor Murphy’s research team, which is part of the university’s Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice, has published a series of reports about the Chinese government’s treatment of people in the Uighur region, researching supply chains and forced labour.

The Chinese government rejects accusations of forced labour.

“Following a review, we have since approved Professor Murphy’s latest research and are committed to supporting her to undertake and disseminate this important work,” the university spokesperson said.

They added: “We have apologised to Professor Murphy and wish to make clear our commitment to supporting her research and to securing and promoting freedom of speech and academic freedom within the law. Professor Murphy’s research remains available on our website.

“We will uphold and, where required, robustly defend the academic freedom of our staff in accordance with legislation.”

The Department for Education (DfE) approached the university to offer support in October 2024 after hearing concerns.

Then-foreign secretary David Lammy made clear to his Chinese counterpart that infringement on UK academic freedoms would not be tolerated, the Government said.

Former DfE minister Stephen Morgan also raised concerns with his Chinese counterpart when in post, the Government added.

A Government spokesperson said: “Any attempt by a foreign state to intimidate, harass or harm individuals in the UK will not be tolerated, and the Government has made this clear to Beijing after learning of this case.

“The Government has robust measures in place to prevent this activity, including updated powers and offences through the National Security Act.”