A professor from Sheffield Hallam University was told to stop her research on supply chains and forced labour in China after receiving demands from Beijing.

Laura Murphy is a leading professor, and is apart of the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice (HKC), a research institution focused on human rights.

In February this year, she was told to stop her work, which focused on Uyghurs, a muslim minority in China allegedly being co-opted into forced labour programmes.

According to The BBC, 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 stopped.

The Chinese government rejects accusations of forced labour, and says that Uyghur work programmes are for poverty alleviation.

The University has since addressed these concerns, a spokesperson said in a statement: “The University’s decision to not continue with Professor Laura 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.  

“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.”

It was also reported that access to University websites from China were blocked, which in turn impeded on its ability to recruit Chinese students.

The spokesperson added: “For the avoidance of doubt, the decision was not based on commercial interests in China. Regardless, China is not a significant international student market for the University.  

“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.” 

Following the universities decision to stop Professor Murphy’s research, she then initiated legal action against Sheffield Hallam for failing to protect her academic freedom.

She submitted a ‘subject access request’ demanding they hand over any relevant internal documents.

Professor Murphy told The BBC that the documents she obtained showed the university ‘negotiated directly with a foreign intelligence service to trade my academic freedom for access to the Chinese student market’, however Sheffield Hallam denies this.

In a statement sent to 360 Wire, they clarified specifically that ‘the internal communications cited are out of context and do not represent university policy’.

They also provided statistics that may suggest they do not have commercial interests in China, because out of 4,204 international student enrolments in 2024/25, 73 were from China which is 1.7%.

In October, the university said it was lifting the ban and apologised to Professor Murphy.

Clara Cheung, artist and activist from Hong Kong, said: “I have met Professor Murphy and know about her research, I respect her work very much.

“SHU is under pressure from China, who threatens the university’s staff based in Beijing. I have sympathy for the university staff, and believe that it requires more diplomatic work at the national level to help address such.

“The UK national government should not leave each individual to fight for itself, because in this situation, the uni or the uni’s staff is facing a gigantic international system.”

The decision to stop the research was based upon various factors. It has been reported by The Guardian that officially the university gave two reasons.

One being the concern about safety of staff in China, and the other being the fact they were sued by a Chinese company named in one of the HKC’s reports, the university’s insurance provider wouldn’t cover work produced by HKC for risk of defamation. A lawsuit which is still ongoing.

Josh Lawrenson, a second year Sports Management student at Sheffield Hallam University commented on the situation.

He said: “The situation is obviously very complex but it’s disappointing to see my uni caught up in it all. I think that Hallam was wrong to stop the professor from publishing her research but at the same time was also being forced into the situation.”

Whilst these discussions were taking place during the year, Murphy was on leave, working for the US government to implement legislation that blocks the import of goods from Xinjiang because of concerns about forced labour.

360 Wire have approached Professor Murphy for further comment, but haven’t received a response at the time of writing.