“Explicitly trading my academic freedom for access to the Chinese student market.” Professor Laura Murphy didn’t soften her assessment after Sheffield Hallam University apologised and lifted restrictions on her Uyghur forced labour work in October. The human rights scholar, based at Hallam’s Helena Kennedy Centre, says the pause should concern every university across the North that relies on overseas income.

Documents and internal emails outline two bruising years. In April 2024, “state security” officers visited the university’s Beijing office and questioned a local staff member for two hours, making clear the message to stop the work. Access to Hallam’s websites had already been blocked in China since 2022, and staff warned that recruitment from the country was taking a hit.

Hallam now says it got this wrong. The university apologised to Prof Murphy and reinstated her research, while stressing the original decision was taken amid insurance difficulties and concern for staff safety. It flatly denies commercial motives, noting that China accounts for a small slice of its intake – just 73 students in 2024/25 – and says its commitment is to “supporting her research” and to academic freedom within the law.

The pause was not token. In early 2025, Murphy was told she could not continue work on China and forced labour; her team’s Forced Labour Lab website had been taken offline, and a final phase of research was shelved. After legal letters and a subject access request revealed the internal paper trail, Hallam reversed course and gave the go‑ahead to new work.

Westminster, for its part, has told Beijing where the UK stands. A government spokesperson said any attempt by a foreign state to intimidate, harass or harm people in the UK “will not be tolerated”, and that this had been made clear to China after officials learned of the Hallam case.

Beijing rejects the allegations. China’s embassy has previously dismissed the Helena Kennedy Centre’s findings as flawed and politically driven, and continues to deny the existence of state‑imposed forced labour in Xinjiang.

There is a stark regional backdrop. University finances are stretched after years of frozen home fees and a sharp drop in international students. The Office for Students reported in May that 43% of English providers expect to run a deficit in 2024/25, driven largely by lower‑than‑expected overseas recruitment. For South Yorkshire’s universities, every cancelled intake matters.

Legal pressure also loomed. After Hallam’s Forced Labour Lab named a Hong Kong garment supplier in a December 2023 report, Smart Shirts Ltd brought a libel claim. In a preliminary issues judgment on 17 December 2024, the High Court found the report carried a defamatory “Chase level 2” meaning (grounds to suspect) – a finding on meaning only, with the full case still to play out.

While Hallam held back from publishing its final China paper, the research did not vanish. Global Rights Compliance released ‘Risk at the Source’ in June 2025, mapping how critical minerals such as titanium, lithium, beryllium and magnesium from Xinjiang connect into aerospace, energy and other global supply chains – and the alleged use of state‑imposed labour transfer schemes.

Rules have tightened since. Core duties in the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 took effect on 1 August 2025, requiring universities to secure and promote free speech within the law, with the OfS able to investigate and issue fines. A ban on NDAs that silence victims of harassment also came in. The government says this is about protecting academic freedom while keeping campuses safe.

The sector regulator has been blunt too. While declining to comment on individual institutions, the OfS said suppression of research due to the disapproval of a foreign government is unacceptable in almost any circumstances – a line that will be read closely on northern campuses.

Hallam insists its position is now clear: apology issued, research restored, and support promised. For Sheffield’s academics – and for northern firms that rely on robust supply‑chain due diligence in everything from advanced manufacturing to renewables – the message is simple: difficult work must not be parked because it causes diplomatic discomfort.