Since 1999, academics facing adverse conditions in their home countries have found a safe harbour at U of T’s Massey College. The Scholars At Risk program, hosted by Massey’s graduate school, offers two-year fellowships of $10,000 for academics to pursue research work. Recipients have included scholars from Ethiopia, Iraq, Zimbabwe, and Azerbaijan.
John Goskell, who requested that his name be changed, is one such professor. “The present situation in [my home country] was such that I could not conduct teaching and field work,” said Goskell, who applied on the advice of a colleague at U of T. The program application assesses a scholar’s need, experience, and academic accomplishments.
U of T offers a better forum to compare research and exchange ideas, and the library system here grants access to many valuable articles and primary sources that he could not access at his home university, Goskell said.
“Inside Massey College, you experience gatherings, exchanges of ideas, and book launches almost every day,” said Goskell. “You find many people of different disciplines. It’s a different life. A life I really advise everyone to experience.”
Goskell is on his second year of the fellowship. He teaches at both St. George and UTM.
“After two years of scholarship you have to fend for yourself,” said Goskell. “I have now been opened to possible opportunities to continue teaching [at other universities], and I am optimistic.”
Many scholars return home after their stay, though the SAR website says that staff work with scholars to find more opportunities abroad when it’s not safe for them to return.
The SAR program at Massey College is part of an international network of universities, with headquarters at New York University. U of T was the only Canadian school to take part, until the University of Western Ontario joined in September.
