New Scholars at Risk Initiative

As part of Roger Williams University’s nearly ten-year commitment to actively supporting and participating in the Scholars at Risk Network (SAR), the University Library, as the hub for RWU’s SAR work, is pleased to announce that we will be administering four “Affiliate Researchers” for the university. The slots for the Affiliate Researchers (to be identified by SAR’s Protection Team) will be designated to support active scholars abroad who have been punitively dismissed from their institutions, and/or are being persecuted by hostile governments. Our hope is that RWU can offer these Affiliate Researchers the ability to continue their ongoing research, submit papers, and have potential connections with peers and students at our institution.

The Affiliate Researchers designation will allow a scholar based in another country who has lost his/her institutional affiliation to:

• Have remote access to library research databases (with some restrictions).
• Have an RWU email, allowing for the researcher to submit his/her work to journals with an RWU institutional affiliation; and listing in RWU Directory.
• When appropriate or possible, have professional contacts with RWU faculty and students in the discipline (such as presenting virtually during a class session, discussing research with like-minded faculty and/or students, etc.)

At RWU, we remain committed to supporting the thousands of fellow academics around the world who face serious threats to their lives and livelihoods, based on their research and professional standing. Through this Affiliate Researcher program, we hope to contribute toward ensuring that knowledge and ideas do not disappear because of the actions of bad state actors. And while we recognize that these Affiliate Researcher positions address only a small fraction of the large number of scholars who find themselves in such situations, it is hoped that RWU’s program can serve as a model for other institutions to follow suit.