Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a British university that hosts the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice (HKC), a human-rights research institute. Its chancellor was Baroness Helena Kennedy, a veteran human-rights barrister, who was sanctioned by the Chinese government for her criticism of rights abuses in China. The university maintains a student-recruitment office in Beijing.
In 2024 Chinese security-service agents visited the university's Beijing office and confirmed that the SHU website was restricted in China because of HKC research papers on Uyghur forced labour. The agents instructed staff to share details of upcoming conversations with British colleagues—"an instruction, not a request", an administrator noted. An earlier visit in April 2024 carried "a threatening tone" and "the message to cease the research activity was clear". The university decided not to publish a final phase of Laura Murphy's research on forced labour; internal documents stated that "attempting to retain the business in China and publication of the research are now untenable bedfellows". The decision, along with confirmation that Helena Kennedy would stand down as chancellor, was communicated to China's National Security Service, after which "relations improved". Murphy threatened legal action and the university conceded, apologising and allowing her to continue the research. The university says the decision "was taken based on our understanding of a complex set of circumstances at the time, including being unable to secure the necessary professional-indemnity insurance" and "was not based on commercial interests in China".
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