Defending wrongfully imprisoned scholars, universities, and democracies under attack: Insights from the 2026 European Student Advocacy Days
On February 19-20, 2026, network member MCI | The Entrepreneurial School honored Scholars at Risk’s 25th anniversary year by hosting SAR’s annual European Student Advocacy Days in Innsbruck, Austria. The two-day event convened around 90 students, faculty, and university representatives from Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, and Sweden. They were united by a mission to empower students to advocate for academic freedom and for the release of wrongfully imprisoned scholars and students around the world.
During the event, students split their time between participating in panel discussions with human rights and higher education voices and hands-on workshops designed to sharpen their advocacy skills.
Scholarship under autocracy: lessons from human rights advocates
The program invited speakers from across the European continent. Among them was Othmar Karas, the former Vice President of the European Parliament, whose keynote address underscored the mission at the heart of Student Advocacy Days.
“Liberal democracy is the framework that allows for academic freedom. Academic freedom is therefore a democratic pillar.”
— Othmar Karas, former VP of the European Parliament
Othmar Karas, the former Vice President of the European Parliament, delivers the keynote address to the 2026 European Student Advocacy Days cohort.
Liberal democracy is the framework that allows for academic freedom. Academic freedom is therefore a democratic pillar,” he explained. By gathering to advocate on behalf of wrongfully imprisoned scholars, students were also standing up for the right to think, ask questions, and share ideas freely—values that are core to a thriving, functioning democracy.
Subsequent speakers offered first-hand accounts of what it meant to practice and protect such values. Oleksandr Shtokvych, director of the Threatened Scholars Integration Initiative at Central European University (CEU), reflected on belonging to a university in exile under President Viktor Orbán’s regime and how higher education institutions demonstrate solidarity with scholars escaping persecution, oppression, and injustice around the world.
 Oleksandr Shtokvych discusses the Threatened Scholars Integration Initiative at CEU with SAR’s Advocacy Director, Clare Robinson. |
 Stella Nyanzi, a former wrongfully imprisoned scholar of African queer studies, speaks on being exiled from her home of Uganda. |
Counterbalancing this institutional perspective was Stella Nyanzi, a former wrongfully imprisoned academic from Uganda. As a scholar of African queer studies (now based at Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany), Nyanzi spoke movingly on facing political persecution, wrongful imprisonment, and exile. Her story offered students a stark reminder of the immense personal costs borne by scholars who exercise academic freedom in authoritarian societies.
Strengthening collaborative and purpose-driven student advocacy
In addition to hearing directly from advocates, Student Advocacy Days provided students a platform to share updates on their ongoing campaigns for wrongfully imprisoned scholars, including Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali, PhD student Bahruz Samadov, Dr. Ilham Tohti, and more. As Clare Robinson, SAR’s Advocacy Director, stressed in her opening remarks, “Academic freedom is under attack. In this particular global moment, it is more important than ever to defend it. And those with freedom to do so have a responsibility to act. This includes all of us.”
Clare Robinson, SAR’s Advocacy Director, engages with Student Advocacy participants during a skills-building workshop.
“In this particular global moment, it is more important than ever to defend [academic freedom]. And those with freedom to do so have a responsibility to act. This includes all of us.”
— Clare Robinson, Advocacy Director at Scholars at Risk
Embracing this responsibility, students engaged in interactive workshops focused on the art of persuasion and marketing in advocacy, co-created innovative campaign-building strategies, and exchanged ideas for how to respond to academic freedom challenges on their own campuses. The sessions gave students the opportunity to not only learn from each other but to deepen their relationships with peer advocates across universities and borders.
 Students from the University of Trento share advocacy strategies from their on-campus campaign to free wrongfully imprisoned student Marfa Rabkova. |
 Students from the University of British Columbia, Ruhr University Bochum, and Monash University, gather for a collaborative, cross-country exercise. |
Students reported coming away came away from Student Advocacy Days with a renewed sense of drive and purpose. In explaining why students must protect academic freedom, Eliza Kral, a student at Monash University, stated, “universities are microcosms of their broader societies.” This realization—that protecting the freedom to think, write, and share ideas within universities has profound consequences for the rest of a democratic society—motivates students in their continuing campaigns to advocate for wrongfully imprisoned scholars and students around the world.
 Isabelle Guibert, a lecturer at MCI | The Entrepreneurial School, leads an innovative theater workshop on social, political, and personal change.
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SAR is deeply grateful to the following Student Advocacy Seminars who participated:
Ruhr University Bochum, University of Padova, University of Trento, Scuola Normale Pisa, University of Bergen, University of Nottingham, Linkoping University, MCI | The Entrepreneurial School, Monash University, and University of British Columbia.
Join them—start a Student Advocacy Seminar on your campus
Hear more from students, faculty, and SAR staff as they discuss their experiences at European Student Advocacy Days and reflect on the “Truth Matters” theme:
Photo credit: MCI | Aaron Heimerl