A university is investigating whether a professor’s refusal to host a visiting researcher from an Israeli university, apparently after being urged by “Palestinian colleagues” not to collaborate with institutions there, amounted to unlawful discrimination under the Equality Act and breached its newly revised freedom of speech code.
The University of East Anglia (UEA) professor, who has not been named, declined to consider a request from an Arab-Israeli postdoctoral researcher based at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to undertake a short research visit to Norwich.
In an email setting out their current work on how the urban environment and environmental conditions shape mental and physical health, the researcher wrote: “I hope you are doing well. My name is ********, and I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.”
The researcher went on to say that they “would be honoured to explore the possibility of undertaking a short research visit under your supervision. Such a visit would provide an invaluable opportunity to deepen the theoretical and applied dimensions of my work.”
Referring to the UEA professor’s work on environmental justice and conservation–development trade-offs, the researcher added that there was “significant conceptual alignment” between their research interests.
The professor’s membership of the Global Environmental Justice group, the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and Climate UEA was described as “especially relevant” to understanding “how environmental inequalities shape well-being outcomes”.
However, the UEA academic, a professor of social sciences specialising in climate-related issues, replied: “I am sorry I cannot help, primarily as Palestinian colleagues have asked us not to work with Israeli universities at this time.”
He stressed that this was “a personal position rather than that of my University”, and closed by saying: “I wish you well and hope for a future where a different response is possible.”
UEA has now launched an investigation after the campaign group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) wrote to the vice-chancellor, Prof David Maguire, alleging that the refusal may amount to unlawful direct discrimination under Part 2 of the Equality Act 2010, where the protected characteristic of “race” is defined to include nationality. On the face of the email, the decisive factor in the professor’s refusal appears not to have been the quality of the researcher’s work, but their affiliation with “Israeli universities”. If UEA would ordinarily entertain comparable requests, declining this one on that basis arguably comes uncomfortably close to direct discrimination on grounds of nationality – a form of race discrimination for which the Act offers no defence based on political motives or solidarity.
UKLFI’s letter also invokes UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel, which urges institutions to promote “the interplay of ideas and information among higher-education teaching personnel throughout the world” as “vital to the healthy development of higher education and research”. It also says higher-education personnel should be able to exercise their academic freedom “without discrimination of any kind”.
The decision may also sit uneasily with UEA’s Code of Practice on Freedom of Speech, which was amended following the introduction of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 to reflect the new statutory duty to ensure that freedom of speech within the law is promoted and secured for staff, students and visiting appointments. The university says it operates with a “strong presumption in favour of free speech” and “does not take an institutional position on political, cultural and religious debates” so that individuals are not discouraged from expressing themselves freely. Clause 3.4, in particular, states that “the use of the Premises shall not usually be denied to any individual or body of persons on any ground connected with the beliefs or views of that individual… or the policies or objectives of that body”, unless there are reasonable grounds to suspect unlawful activity.
Following UKLFI’s intervention, a UEA spokesman confirmed the institution “will be investigating the allegations seriously in line with the relevant policies”, and stressed that “UEA does not have an academic boycott on any countries”. That stance, he added, is “based on the principle that the role of a university is not to prescribe what should be thought, but to create space for robust, evidence-based exploration of complex and contested issues”.
“Our code of practice on freedom of speech outlines our commitment to freedom of speech and our equality, diversity and inclusion policy sets out our commitment to prevent discrimination on the basis of the protected characteristics outlined in the Equality Act 2010.”
This article forms part of the Committee for Academic Freedom’s monitoring of developments in UK higher education. To receive monthly updates and analysis on cases affecting academic freedom, click the link and subscribe to our newsletter.