"Before being a scientist, I'm a human being:" Dr. Encieh Erfani on exile and solidarity among Iranian academics abroad

03/10/25 • 33 min

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 at the time.

Dr. Erfani was traveling outside of Iran in September 2022 when the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement began, sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. In solidarity, Dr. Erfani stepped down from her academic position in Iran. Her resignation email quickly went viral on social media and she has not been able to return since, knowing she would risk imprisonment by Iranian authorities. “As a scientist, you have never trained to be a social activist or political activist, but in some countries, your actions can be considered a political act,” she says. “A simple resignation can lead to exile.”’

In response, Dr. Erfani co-founded the International Community of Iranian Academics (ICOIA), a group providing community and support to academics of Iranian heritage around the world. Now at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, she continues her work as a researcher and staunch advocate for displaced academics worldwide.

Learn more about Dr. Erfani’s work: https://sites.google.com/view/eerfani/home

Learn more about the International Community of Iranian Academics (ICOIA): https://icoia.org/

This episode is brought to you in partnership with the Fragile Freedom podcast, a joint-initiative of the German science communications agency con gressa and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of Science Year 2024 Freedom. See the Fragile Freedom podcast here: https://fragile-freedom.podigee.io/

Learn more about Dr. Erfani’s work: https://sites.google.com/view/eerfani/home

Learn more about the International Community of Iranian Academics (ICOIA): https://icoia.org/

Previous Episode

“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 considered one of the few reliable, real-time sources of information on life under the Islamic State (aka ISIS or Daesh in Arabic), and proved to be a critical source of information for journalists, policy-makers, and scholars.

Mosul was liberated from ISIS in 2017 but only after an extended, months-long battle that left much of the city badly damaged. Omar, now based in France, remains deeply connected to Mosul, having launched numerous social initiatives to rebuild the city and document the stories of its inhabitants. “The moment you are labeled as a scholar, and the moment you are free, then you have to give back to the society,” he says. “It’s a must.”

Next Episode

undefined - “People were disappeared, just like the smoke.” Omar Gómez Trejo on seeking truth and justice in the 2014 Ayotzinapa case in Iguala, Mexico

“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 student teachers from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College in the city of Iguala, Mexico.

From 2019-2022, Omar’s team secured indictments for over 100 federal, state, and local authorities for their involvement in the disappearances or subsequent cover-ups, including military officials and organized crime members. His team also worked closely with the families of victims and their legal representatives in their search for truth and justice.

Facing significant political interference in the case, Omar resigned as special prosecutor in 2022. Through SAR’s Practitioners at Risk program, Omar is a visiting scholar at the Human Rights Center at the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Law. There, he continues to work on the Ayotzinapa case through his research and teaching, while drawing on his experience with the case to work on broader issues of impunity for human rights violations in Mexico and beyond.

See SAR’s monitoring of the 2014 Ayotzinapa case: https://ow.ly/blY950VwQTm

Listen to “After Ayotzinapa” on Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting: https://revealnews.org/article/after-ayotzinapa/