The Safe Havens Conference would not have been possible without the contributions of many people. We would like to extend our gratitude for the hard work which made this conference a success.
We gratefully recognize the Scholars At-Risk Carleton Co-Chairs Andrew Johnston, Christine Duff, Aaron Doyle, Norah Vollmer, and Adjunct Research Professor Megan Graham, for initiating and leading this year’s conference from concept to completion. We would like to acknowledge the work of the conference coordinating team, including Norah Vollmer, Megan Graham, Monserrat Ramirez Ruvalcaba, Temidayo Fawole, Sakib Ahsan, Bana Al Tahir, Randy Boswell, the News Team journalism students and our many wonderful volunteers.
We extend our gratitude to Roula El-Rifai and the Government of Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) for their support of this conference. Their commitment to investing in the role of research to finding solutions to issues in the international development sector has helped make this gathering possible. This conference was also made possible by the foundation built by the Carleton University/University of British Columbia Placement, Preservation and Perseverance (PPP) project.
We would also like to thank and acknowledge the help and support of Provost Pauline Rankin, Associate Vice-President Betina Appel Kuzmarov, the members of the SAR Carleton Committee, and, of course, the larger Carleton community.
Additionally, we would like to acknowledge the strength and courage of our at-risk and displaced scholars, artists, and human rights defenders – the reason we have all gathered for this event. We recognize the difficulties in being acknowledged explicitly, but we thank all who contributed to this conference as consultants, advisors and participants.
Finally, we would like to thank participants and speakers for sharing their experience and expertise, as well as all those who have encouraged us along the way. We hope this conference serves as an opportunity to foster dialogue, strengthen cross-sectoral collaboration, and build sustainable systems for protecting global knowledge networks and academic freedom.