Free to Think Podcast
Free to Think features conversation with interesting, thoughtful, and inspiring individuals whose research, teaching, or expression falls at the always sensitive intersection of power and ideas. We'll be speaking with those who have the courage to seek truth and speak truth, often at great risk, as well as with those who support them and share their stories.
Free to Think is a podcast presented by Scholars at Risk, where we celebrate people with the courage to think, question, and share ideas. For information on membership, activities, or donating to Scholars at Risk, visit www.scholarsatrisk.org.
- Update frequency
- every 19 days
- Average duration
- 31 minutes
- Episodes
- 44
- Years Active
- 2021 - 2025
“Somebody wanted me in prison…” Paul Chambers and Tyrell Haberkorn on laws silencing scholars in Thailand
Dr. Tyrell Haberkorn and Dr. Paul Chambers join Free to Think to discuss the use of Thailand’s lèse-majesté law to intimidate and silence scholars.
After three decades living and working in Thailand,…
“People were disappeared, just like the smoke.” Omar Gómez Trejo on seeking truth and justice in the 2014 Ayotzinapa case in Iguala, Mexico
Free to Think speaks with Omar Gómez Trejo, a lawyer and human rights advocate from Mexico. Omar gained prominence as the special prosecutor leading the investigation into the disappearance of 43 stu…
"Before being a scientist, I'm a human being:" Dr. Encieh Erfani on exile and solidarity among Iranian academics abroad
As the first in her family to attend university, Dr. Encieh Erfani was drawn to the stars. Her interest led her to physics and cosmology, examining the origin of the universe – a rare subject in Iran…
“It never crossed my mind to stop…” Omar Mohammed on using scholarship for the public good
Omar Mohammed first gained international prominence in 2014 as the anonymous blogger “Mosul Eye”, risking his life to document daily existence in the occupied city of Mosul, Iraq. His blog was consid…
Finding solidarity “beyond the border” in Southeast Asia – Khoo Ying Hooi on how building regional coalitions can help protect scholars & academic freedom
Free to Think speaks with Dr. Khoo Ying Hooi, an Associate Professor at the University of Malaya and 2022-23 Mellon/SAR Academic Freedom Fellow, on academic freedom and coalition building in Southeas…
‘Refusing to accept the status quo’ — Students speak up for at-risk scholars through SAR seminars & legal clinics
Free to Think speaks with three university students who express the profound impact of joining the SAR student advocacy community. “Being involved in the amplification of the voice of somebody who's …
Navigating the ‘mental prison’ – Mubashar Hasan on higher education in Bangladesh
Free to Think speaks with academic, policy analyst and human rights activist Mubashar Hasan. He describes how in Bangladesh certain research topics are off-limits, particularly those that threaten th…
Gaining or losing academic freedom? Decoding the Academic Freedom Index with Katrin Kinzelbach and Lars Lott
Free to Think speaks with Katrin Kinzelbach and Lars Lott, researchers behind the Academic Freedom Index (AFI) which assesses levels of academic freedom in 179 countries and territories from 1900 to …
“Undoing the censorship that was stuck in me” – A conversation with Achiro Olwoch, writer, playwright, filmmaker from Northern Uganda
Free to Think speaks with Achiro P. Olwoch, an award-winning writer, playwright, and filmmaker from Northern Uganda, and current scholar-at-risk and Weiss International Fellow at Barnard College in N…
“We have no definition” — MSCA4Ukraine fellow Artem Nazarko on prosecuting war crimes in Ukraine
In February 2022, Artem Nazarko was in Odesa, Ukraine with his family, coming to terms with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “It was huge traffic jams everywhere, empty shops, panic and confusion” he…
“Our voices really do matter from an early age” – Student advocates at UC Santa Barbara highlight wrongful charges against Egyptian scholar Patrick Zaki
Emma Hartley and Jonathan Gelfond, undergraduates at UC Santa Barbara in California, weren’t sure if elected officials in Washington DC would agree to speak with them. They were advocating on behalf …
“‘Jane from California' might be an Afghan woman…” University of the People's Shai Reshef on education in Afghanistan under the Taliban
Free to Think speaks with Shai Reshef, President of the University of the People, the first non-profit, tuition-free, American, accredited, online university whose mission is to help students worldw…
“Raising the cost of repression” — Sol Iglesias on political violence, red tagging, and threats to academic freedom in the Philippines
Free to Think speaks with political scientist Sol Iglesias about "violence for social control" and threats to scholars in the Philippines, including online trolling, "red-tagging," threats, and viole…
“Every day my children can go to school, I laugh, because my heart is full of joy,” with SAR scholar Zahra Hakimi
In Herat, Afghanistan, Zahra Hakimi was a faculty member, midwife, family planning trainer, and women’s reproductive healthcare provider. She often worked in secret and at personal risk to provide tr…
The "forgotten crisis" of attacks on higher education in Venezuela
Venezuelan higher education is in crisis. After decades of political attacks on universities, many professors struggle to survive a national economic collapse that threatens the whole society with ru…
![“There Were No Fatalities. . . [But] If This Happens Again, I Am Not So Sure.” Discussing The Forcible Violation Of The Universidad Nacional de San Marcos, Lima, Peru, With Salvador Herencia-Carrasco](https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/a/5/c/8/a5c8bfad2545e4e1e5bbc093207a2619/Free_to_Think_podcast_1400x1400-20230207-0dksatwvsq.jpg)
“There Were No Fatalities. . . [But] If This Happens Again, I Am Not So Sure.” Discussing The Forcible Violation Of The Universidad Nacional de San Marcos, Lima, Peru, With Salvador Herencia-Carrasco
On January 21st, police forcibly entered the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima, Peru, arresting over 200 people including students pulled from their dormitories. Free to Think speaks w…
“Academic Activism” In Southeast Asia, With SHAPE-SEA’s Joel Mark Barredo
What is ‘academic activism?’ What responsibility, if any, do scholars have for engaging outside of academia, with the public and with marginalized communities in particular?
Free to Think speaks wit…
“Empathy is Active.” Henry Reese, on Salman Rushdie, City of Asylum, and the “Reader Effect.”
In 1997, Henry Reese and his wife, Diane Samuels, were at a public talk by writer Salman Rushdie, and inspired by his call for communities around the world to offer sanctuary to exiled writers. They …
“The Fear has Fallen away…” Roya Hakakian and Sasha Gladkikh on the Death of Mahsa Amini and the Protests in Iran
Free to Think talks with Roya Hakakian, a writer and founding member of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, and Sasha Gladkikh, a student activist and director of philanthropy at the Iranian …
“They Were Trying to Keep Education Going.” Ukrainian Higher Education Endures the Conflict
Free to Think talks with Yulia Bezvershenko, a visiting scholar at Stanford University, and Liz Shchepetylnykova, a civil society activist, on the state of higher education in Ukraine after four mont…