Ethical Challenges in Research & Cooperation: ISDP welcomed Alicia Hennig for a fireside discussion

October 14, 2025: Yesterday, on October 13, the Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP) team had the pleasure of hosting a fireside discussion with Dr. Alicia Hennig, Associated Senior Research Fellow, who shared her first-hand insights into China’s academic environment, government structure, and ethical challenges in research and cooperation.

The conversation was moderated by Niklas Swanström, Executive Director of ISDP, and joined by ISDP researchers and interns. Drawing on over five years of experience at Chinese universities, Dr. Hennig reflected on the politicization of academia, restrictions on foreign researchers, and the growing challenge of maintaining ethical cooperation with authoritarian systems.

She warned that knowledge transfer without ethical safeguards risks strengthening repression rather than advancing global innovation.

“In democracies, ethics and freedom go hand in hand. In autocracies, neither exists.”

Thank you, Dr. Hennig, and all participants, for an engaging and thought-provoking discussion on the ethical dimensions of international research cooperation.