Ethical assessment: Conflict zones and human rights violations
Source: https://www.uva.nl/en/research/research-environment/third-party-collaborations/conflict-zones-and-human-rights-violations/conflict-zones-and-human-rights-violations.html Parent: https://www.uva.nl/en/current/protests/protests-at-the-uva.html
The UvA collaborates with many partners at home and abroad. This is a great thing, because free academic exchange leads to better science. Our globally shared scientific methods are stronger than political differences. But this freedom is not unlimited. One of the principles of the UvA as an academic institution is that we do not want to become involved in human rights violations or war crimes.
Latest updates
- The Executive Board and deans explain in this letter to the academic community why the UvA will not be entering any institutional collaborations in education and research with Israeli partners for the time being.
- UvA staff can now better assess their collaborations for the possibility that they unintentionally contribute to gross human rights violations, serious and irreversible damage to the environment, or otherwise have a ...
- The Executive Board of the UvA has decided not to enter into any new HorizonEurope collaborations with Israeli organisations for the time being, pending the results of an EU investigation into compliance with the ...
- A message from Peter Paul Verbeek, Rector of the UvA about the situation and violence in Gaza.
- The renewed, extended assessment framework with which the UvA can assess its external collaborations is now its final preparatory phase.
- The renewed, extended assessment framework with which the UvA can assess its external collaborations is now its final preparatory phase.
- UvA experts have been working for months to refine the framework that researchers use to assess potential collaborations with local and international partners. This is one of the actions the UvA is taking in response ...
- The events surrounding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the war and what the UvA's response should be, led to a new discussion about research collaboration with third parties.
FAQs and information about collaboration with Israel
- The Executive Board and deans explain in this letter to the academic community why the UvA will not be entering any institutional collaborations in education and research with Israeli partners for the time being.
- Read the FAQs on the decision not to continue these three collaborations in their current form or without changed circumstances here.
More information
The key developments regarding assessment procedures and collaborations are:
- March 2025: Decision on three separate collaboration cases.
- June 2025: Temporary halt on new Horizon Europe collaborations with Israeli partners.
- July 2025: New guideline for the assessment of research introduced.
- October 2025: Why we will not collaborate with Israel at this time.
- Advisory Committee on Collaboration with Third Parties
The new guidelines, the revised assessment framework and the recommendations on the 3 cases were drafted by the existing Advisory Committee on Collaboration with Third Parties. Specifically for this process, the Committee was recently expanded to include 4 colleagues with specialised expertise.
Find the composition of the committee (in Dutch) on the staff website. - Documents and further information
- Read all about the assessment guidelines to external collaboration.
- Find more information about the Advisory Committee on Collaboration with Third Parties (in Dutch, staff access only).
- Read an interview with the chair of the Advisory Committee on Collaboration with Third Parties about the development of the framework expansion and new guidelines.
- Find the advices issued in March '25 on collaboration with Hebrew University, China Scholarship Council and collaboration with Hungarian institutions on the EU sanctions list here.
- Ethical assessment of collaborations
From July 2025 employees and their supervisors can use the extensive assessment and associated assessment tools to gauge whether collaborations align with the UvA’s values. Employees can also assess the risk of collaborations contributing to human rights violations, serious damage to the environment or the misuse of knowledge for military purposes. Deans and the Executive Board can ask the Advisory Committee on Collaboration with Third Parties to investigate and advise on collaborations.
More information about the ethical assessment of collaborations