Thank you for your email. 

If you have submitted a Freedom of Information Request or Subject Access
Request, please accept this as acknowledgement of your request.   

All other enquiries will be responded to in due course. 

Yours sincerely 

Information Governance Unit  

University Secretary’s Office 

The Palatine Centre
Stockton Road
Durham
DH1 3LE 

w: [1]https://www.dur.ac.uk/university.secreta...

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Dear Flo Marks

Thank you for your request for information from Durham University.
Colleagues have provided the information below/attached in response to
your questions.

Could you confirm whether your university has an academic freedom code of
conduct, guideline or another formal agreement? If so, please provide
access to this document.

Could you please confirm whether the university management conducts risk
assessments for academic freedom prior to entering into institutional
relationships with higher education institutions in authoritarian states?
If so, please provide access to this document.

Could you please outline the process for beginning new, or re-evaluating
current, institutional partnerships with or receiving funding from higher
education institutions or state-linked organisations (particularly those
in authoritarian countries such as China)?

Please see attached Documents

Policy Statement on Freedom of Expression includes - “The University must
ensure that its staff and students are able to work, study and live in an
environment free from unlawful intimidation, harassment or abuse.”

Ethics in Research and Scholarship Policy applies to research scholarship
and related activities

This sets out a range of projects in which ethical review will be required
including :

Clause 4.7 Collaborator or Funding Source: Any project where any of the
following may apply:

a) the funder or collaborator’s ethos and values are at odds with the
University’s;

b) the funder or collaborator has a poor ethical track record;

c) the terms of the funding are prohibitive (e.g. in restricting
publication or influencing research design);

d) the funding has been obtained in an unethical way.

Specific cases and matters of principle may be escalated from departments,
via Faculty Ethics Committees as per process defined in section 3 of
Appendix 1 to University Ethics Committee.

The Partnership Approval Process and forms outline the process for forming
new and ongoing relationships and the evaluation involved before entering
or continuing a partnership.

If you are dissatisfied with the University’s response to your freedom of
information request, you can ask us to internally review our handling of
your request, including the application of any exemptions applied. This
must be within 40 working days from the date of our response to you.

To do this, please email [1][Durham University request email].

Please state the grounds on which you wish the decision to be reviewed and
enclose any other information that may be useful in considering the matter
further. We aim to inform you of our decision within 20 working days from
the date your request for internal review is received.

If you are not satisfied with the results of the internal review you may
apply to the Information Commissioner's Office for an independent review.

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

[2]www.ico.org.uk

Yours sincerely

Information Governance Unit

Durham University

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Information Governance Unit, University Secretary’s Office

e: [3][Durham University request email]

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CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE:
This message is intended solely for the addressee(s) in the first instance
and may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended
recipient, please notify the sender, delete the message from your system
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References

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2. http://www.ico.org.uk/
3. mailto:[Durham University request email]