Dear Flo
Thank you for your request for information from the University of
Sheffield.
The University holds the information you have requested, and colleagues
have provided this below.
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.

Colleagues advised that under Section 43 of the Education (No.2) Act 1986
the University of Sheffield has a statutory duty to take reasonably
practicable steps to ensure that freedom of speech within the law is
secured for members, students, employees and visiting speakers. The
University’s Code of Practice has been made in accordance with this
requirement. The Code of Practice is available from the University's
website via the link here
[1]https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/media/14984/... the webpage here
[2]sheffield.ac.uk/calendar

The information is therefore exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of
Information Act as a result of the provision at section 21 of the Act, as
the information is reasonably accessible to you via other means.

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)?
For points 2 and 3, colleagues advised that we have a policy on
security-related issues in international research ('Trusted Research').
The policy can be found via the following link:
[3]https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/research-ser...
We have agreed due diligence processes based on the attached
documentation. Approval is required from the relevant Head of Academic
Department, the Director of Research Services and the Head of the Relevant
Faculty Finance. Where there are identified ethical issues, including, but
not limited to, academic freedom, additional discussion and approval is
required from Senior Academic leadership via the Vice-President (Research
and Innovation), and, ultimately, the Vice-Chancellor. The latter
approvals route would include relationships with partners in countries who
may not share the same values as those in the UK.
Please note, the names of individuals have been redacted from some of the
attached documents with regard to section 40(2) of the Freedom of
Information Act. Section 40(2) provides an exemption from disclosure for
personal data, where this would breach data protection principles, and
where we judged individuals may hold a reasonable expectation that their
names were not released under the FOI Act.
If you are not satisfied with the University's response to your FOI
request, please see details of our internal review process [4]here,
including details of how to contact the Information Commissioner's Office
for an independent review.
Best wishes
Elspeth
--
Elspeth Summerfield
Assistant Data Protection Officer
University Secretary's Office
The University of Sheffield
First Floor
Arts Tower
12 Bolsover Street
Sheffield
S3 7NA
Web: [5]https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/uso
Best wishes
Elspeth
On Thu, 2 Mar 2023 at 10:27, Flo Marks <[6][FOI #955943 email]> wrote:

Dear University of Sheffield,

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)?

I look forward to your response.

Yours faithfully,

Flo Marks

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