What are Advocacy days? As part of the SAR Global Congress Student Advocacy Days are a chance for students and faculty to meet with DC-based officials, embassies and agencies to discuss cases of at-risk and imprisoned scholars & students. Student advocacy days run annually, often as an independent event, however this year they will be imbedded into the conference. Usually this is a two day event, featuring hands on workshops and a day of advocacy and dialogue at the Capitol Hill on behalf of wrongfully imprisoned scholars.
Alongside the meetings with officials, students and faculty will have the opportunity to attend a Student Advocacy Workshop prior to the meetings and a workshop after the meetings. Taking place on March 25-26th, “Pre Congress” workshops and a day at Capitol Hill will take place prior to the commencement of “Global Congress” on the 27th.
SAR Network Global Congress: The 2020 conference theme is “Truth, Power & Society: The Promise of Higher Education in Challenging Times”. This theme reflects three core roles of higher education:
- Research and teaching leading to new insights and understanding
- Evidence-based contributions to public discourse and policy
- Meaningful engagement with the broadest public good
On March 25-26th in Washington, DC, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and SAR will co-host workshops and trainings on academic freedom advocacy.
Last year’s UBC delegates attending the Advocacy Day’s Conference
The Opportunity:
UBC Scholars at risk is offering funding to a select group of students to attend the SAR network global congress in Washington DC. Student delegates will participate in the SAR network student advocacy days and workshops, representing the UBC Scholars at risk chapter. Selected students will be required to prepare for their attendance prior to travelling to Washington. This will include reading up on a selected case study, raising awareness of the case on campus to further advocacy of the case and 2-3 meetings with a the UBC SAR team and other participants. It is expected that this preparation will require approximately 15-20 hours of work in the weeks leading up to your departure for DC.
The UBC SAR student delegation that goes to SAR Student Advocacy Days will be expected to host an engagement event for UBC faculty considering SAR inclusion in their course design in the early spring.
Details: Truth, Power and Society: The Promise of Higher Education in Challenging Times
Scholars at Risk Network 2020 Global Congress
March 25-26, Washington DC.
Eligibility: Applications for this opportunity are open to 3rd or 4th year students who have completed course work or have related professional experience in the field of human rights, international politics or other related fields. Interested and eligible students are asked to submit an application.
Application process:
To be considered as one of the UBC student delegates at the Scholars at Risk (SAR) Global Conference please submit an application via answering the questions/prompts here.