PhD IDS

PhD student Bablu Chakma shares some reflections on the SaR Advocacy Seminar

Scholars at Risk Advocacy Seminar at the RUB – Some Reflections

As the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) launched its first ever Scholars at Risk (SaR) advocacy seminar in the Summer Semester of 2021, I received an unmatched opportunity to work as the seminar´s teaching assistant (TA), together with Dr. Maximilian Schell from the Faculty of Protestant Theology. Although a journey of only several weeks at the moment, this experience has been inspiring so far.

The SaR seminar is targeted at developing the skills of RUB students in relation to human rights research, monitoring, and advocacy. With its interdisciplinary module, this course engaged a large number of faculties from several disciplines of the RUB, as well as external experts. The first part of the seminar deals with conceptual and methodological issues related to academic freedom and its connection to human rights, while second part is dedicated to doing real-world advocacy on imprisoned scholars.

The seminar has opened up a window of opportunity to expand my knowledge on academic freedom and other core higher education values like institutional autonomy, transparency, and social responsibility. Aside from attending the weekly seminar sessions, I have taken part in a MOOC of SaR and in several preparatory meetings that included interdisciplinary faculty members. My biggest surprise has been the discovery of my poor knowledge about academic freedom, and how academic freedom as a human right remains ‘underdeveloped’. Moreover, as a part of the seminar, I have taken part in some events of other SaR seminars offered at other universities. Participation in those events has enriched my knowledge about how different academic institutions are dealing with the issue of academic freedom, while it provided me the opportunity to network with academics beyond the seminar at the RUB.

My role as a TA involves guiding student activists in doing real-world advocacy on at risk scholars, where they will be materializing the knowledge and skills gained in the conceptual-methodological part of the seminar. Therefore, in the coming weeks, I will be working together with participants in connecting the (virtual) classroom with the real world. While discussions by experts on academic freedom vis-à-vis human rights are aimed at expanding the knowledge and skills of participants, the advocacy part will be dedicated to bringing changes in people’s lives. This would require motivation, compassion, and going beyond one’s own ‘self’, thus becoming immersed in the lives of those who we will be working for. As you can see, I am really looking forward to coming weeks when we will be working together for change.

Bablu Chakma

PhD Student