In countries around the world, scholars regularly face a variety of challenges and threats related to their personal and academic beliefs, practices and teachings. In some cases, at-risk scholars feel they have no choice but to leave their home countries in order to protect themselves and their families—thereby seeking refuge in new countries and at new academic institutions more aligned with their ideologies.
The involuntary migration of faculty members and researchers in the pursuit of academic freedom and personal safety is an important part of the conversation around displacement—and a key area in which universities can play a role in responding to the challenge of forced migration and displacement.
Carleton proudly partners with the Scholars at Risk Network and the Institute of International Education’s Scholar Rescue Fund (IIE-SRF), two international organizations that protect scholars who are facing threats to their lives and liberty by arranging temporary research and teaching appointments at host institutions. The SAR Carleton committee is a recognized leader among the SAR network in Canada and embraces its role as a place of refuge for scholars at risk.
Since 2014, Carleton has hosted 19 scholars across 6 departments, empowering educators and researchers who have diverse backgrounds, experiences, and expertise with supportive opportunities to continue pursuing their passions and making an impact through their work and advocacy.
Mustafa Bahran: Acting on a Calling to Give Back Through Education and Activism
Mustafa Bahran refers to himself playfully as an “intellectual rebel.” Throughout his early life, he often went against the grain—standing up for his ideals and pursuing ideas and paths that he believed to be right as opposed to doing what was expected of him.
This mindset led him through a varied career, starting at 16-years-old when he joined an underground socialist party and later became the leader of the socialist party student section of the largest university in Yemen. From there, he pursued diverse educational and public sector roles, including physics professor, science and technology advisor to the president of Yemen, founder and chair of the National Atomic Energy Commission of Yemen, and minister of electricity and energy in Yemen, among many other hats. Between 2004 and 2006 he was a member of the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, an international watchdog organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
“I’ve always been against the status quo,” Mustafa says. “Against injustice. I’ve been speaking my mind and standing up for human rights all my life.”
His approach to social issues and out-of-the-box thinking enabled him to make significant contributions through his work, but also put him at risk when the Yemeni civil war began in 2014. To protect their family, he and his wife made the difficult decision to leave Yemen—first relocating to Saudi Arabia and then moving to the United States to continue teaching at the University of Oklahoma with support from the International Institute of Education Scholar Rescue Fund (IIE-SRF). In 2018, he joined Carleton University as a visiting professor, supported by the IIE-SRF and SAR Carleton.
“I loved Carleton from the moment I arrived. From the first day I stepped on campus, the amount of goodwill and friendship I received was amazing,” explains Mustafa. “And when I teach, there’s this wonderful mosaic of students—it’s the most beautiful and diverse student body I’ve ever seen, and I’ve lectured in 36 countries.”
He continues: “Coming to Canada and Carleton changed my life, and it’s now time to help others. I’m someone who has never stopped the struggle to improve people’s lives, and SAR Carleton has enhanced my ability to give back—has given me new opportunities to give back.”
For Mustafa, giving back looks like positively impacting students through his teaching, leading educational opportunities for Yemeni people around the world, and becoming an advocate for SAR.
He has taught over 3,000 students since he started at Carleton in 2018 and strives to motivate, guide and inspire them—setting them up for success in their future careers.
Working with colleagues, he established the Association of Yemeni Academics and Professionals (AYAP), a global NGO that connects Yemeni academics and professionals (both in Yemen and globally) and holds webinars discussing elements of the future of Yemen, such as wind energy, water resources, higher ed, and women’s rights. AYAP monthly webinars—of which there have been 50+ so far—cover every aspect of the future of Yemen.
“It’s a way to build a knowledge bank for Yemen—a way to bring the future closer,” he says.
He is also a member of the SAR committee at Carleton, through which he helps organize events and conferences that advance the cause.
“Today, I consider myself an activist for the cause of SAR,” says Mustafa. “I speak for and try to help scholars at risk all over the world. It’s one of the human rights and academic freedom causes that I subscribe to and I try to champion.
“I believe our humanity’s survival is a function of how much knowledge we produce. And to preserve and advance this knowledge, you have to preserve and advance the people who produce it. To me, the ultimate goal of helping at-risk scholars in different regions of the world and supporting academic freedom is to serve humanity, the greater good and the future of humankind.”
Mohammad: Leveraging Research to Tackle Food Insecurity in his Home Country
Mohammad had a happy and fulfilled life and career in Afghanistan. He was a faculty member at one of the universities in Kabul for eight years—including a one-year stint as the head of the Department of Economics and a four-year term as the dean of the Faculty of Economics and Management.
His teaching philosophy revolved around open and honest dialogue, and his lectures—particularly in his Economic Development courses—often included conversations on political and ideological matters to encourage his students to think critically about complex issues. But when the Taliban returned to power and the academic landscape in Afghanistan shifted, his open approach to teaching put him at risk.
“I was forced to flee my home country, leaving behind my career and possessions,” Mohammad says. “My wife and I fled to Italy on an evacuation flight at the end of August 2021.”
Having heard of Scholars at Risk from friends and colleagues, he began doing research into options to continue his work at a new academic institution. Mohammad was drawn to Carleton, he says, after discovering it was the first university in Canada to begin supporting scholars at risk.
After his application to join Carleton as a visiting scholar was approved, he moved to Ottawa in March 2022 with financial support from SAR Network and IIE-SRF.
“Like many other migrants, we faced a lot of challenges when we arrived in Canada,” he recalls. “But despite this, we had wonderful early experiences in Ottawa and at Carleton, largely due to the significant support we received.
“Without support from SRF, SAR and Carleton, I wouldn’t have been able to continue my career. One thing that many people likely don’t realize about this issue is that it can be very difficult for displaced scholars to find jobs related to their field of study.”
Displaced scholars, he says, have very specialized degrees, training, knowledge and expertise within the context of their home countries—which can be difficult to translate to a new environment with its own unique economic, political, educational and cultural landscape.
With adequate support, scholars are much better positioned to continue to pursue their research foci and contribute to responses to complex societal issues—making programs like SAR Carleton invaluable.
For his part, Mohammad is about to defend his PhD thesis on rural poverty in Afghanistan. His field of study and practice is engineering of agricultural economics and he works closely with a collaborator at the University of Guelph on food insecurity in Afghanistan. His love for his home country remains, and he continues to try to make a positive difference in the lives of his people through his research in Canada.
He also strives to transfer knowledge—including his experience as an at-risk scholar in Canada and his expanded research skills—with former colleagues and students in Afghanistan.
“I’ve learned a lot at Carleton—through other professors, PhD courses and workshops—and I’d like to pass on that knowledge,” Mohammad shares. “I’m trying to teach; not as a professor, but as a friend and colleague.”