SOAS Influencing the Corridors of Power (ICOP)

UK

• UK Refugees at Risk: How Current Move-on Policy Generates Homelessness (January 2026)
• Why Universities Need an Ethical Code of Governance (December 2025)
• How to Fix the Failing e-Visa Scheme (June 2025)
• The Data (Use and Access) Bill, risks to the free flow of data and UK economic growth (May 2025)
• The Data (Use and Access) Bill, risks to the free flow of data and UK economic growth [For Committee Stage] (March 2025)
• The Data (Use and Access) Bill risks to the free flow of data and UK economic growth (February 2025)

Palestine/Israel

• Sanctions Heat Map: Allied Immunity for Israel (September 2025)
• Israeli Government’s ‘Humanitarian City’ Plan in Gaza – International Law Implications (July 2025)
• Gaza: Rejecting the Weaponisation and Privatisation of Humanitarian Aid (May 2025)
• Recognise Palestine Now: Britain should lead, not follow (May 2025)

Visit our blog site for a full list of our published briefings.

Communities of Inquiry (CofI) is a structured dialogical approach developed by Professor Alison Scott-Baumann during the AHRC-funded research project, New everyday practices of free speech on campus: Beyond racialised and religious stereotypes. The project commenced in September 2021 and concluded in April 2024, following an extension due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related disruptions. Since the conclusion of the funded research period, CofI sessions have continued to be delivered in response to institutional interest and requests. 

By December 2025, more than 40 CofI sessions had been convened across 12 universities and institutions in England, as well as at a European university. These sessions have taken place in a range of academic and civic settings, including universities and policy-adjacent institutions. Universities include: the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; the University of Cambridge; the University of Gloucestershire; London South Bank University; Coventry University; the University of Kent; Keele University; and the University of Sussex. Institutions include: British Council, St George’s House, Windsor Castle and Cumberland Lodge. 

Across sessions, CofI has been used to support structured discussion of a wide range of topics, including those involving disagreement, sensitivity, or institutional constraints. These have included questions relating to academic freedom, institutional bias, curriculum debates, gender, transgenderism and the Church of England, Israel/Palestine, leadership, migration, and the operation of counter-extremism policy within educational settings.

Actsure and CofI

Actsure is a University of Cambridge Enterprise–funded legaltech platform developed by Duaa Jamal Karim. Actsure enables universities to record, assess, and resolve free speech issues in line with the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023. It combines structured reporting, compliance logic, and secure audit trails so institutions can meet legal duties, protect academic freedom, and build trust with students and staff. Beyond compliance, Actsure integrates the Communities of Inquiry (CofI) programme developed at SOAS with AHRC funding, which provides a structured way to embed open, critical, and respectful dialogue across campuses. By turning legal obligation into cultural empowerment, Actsure supports universities to move beyond compliance and into leadership.

Visit the ICOP blog site to learn more about CofI and Actsure.

From 2022 to 2024, we managed the Communities of Inquiry across the Generations APPG.

With the new parliament in session (2024 to current), we hope to support MPs and peers to establish the Intergenerational Inquiry (TIGI) APPG, chaired by Paul Kohler (Liberal Democrat MP for Wimbledon).

Our aim is to create communities of inquiry that bring together individuals who might not otherwise meet to discuss the challenges facing our country today. Our approach is topic-agnostic, enabling the amplification of a diverse range of critical and timely issues.

The prevailing political discourse often speaks to an older electorate, those considered ‘responsible’ and inclined to vote. However, such a narrow focus is a missed opportunity, overlooking the potential of younger generations to instigate meaningful, democratic change.

We address this imbalance by creating pathways for students and academics to influence political discourse and bridge the generational divide.

Officers

• Paul Kohler (APPG TIGI Chair, Liberal Democrat MP for Wimbledon)
• Baroness Bennett (Green Party Peer)
• Lord Balfe of Dulwich (Conservative Life Peer)
• John McDonnell (Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington, former Shadow Chancellor)

Visit the ICOP blog site to learn more about TIGI APPG.

2025/26

• Democracy and Free Speech on Campus: Theory and Practice (February 2026)
• How to Develop Free Speech on Campus: International Controversies and Communities of Inquiry (2025), edited by Alison Frances Scott-Baumann and Hasan Pandor
• Biannual Impact Review (September 2024 – April 2025) (April 2025)

2024

• SOAS Influencing the Corridors of Power Project (ICOP) June 2024 Review (June 2024)

2023

• SOAS ICOP & APPG Triennial Review 2020-2023 (September 2023)
• Communities of Inquiry Across the Generations APPG Year in Review 2022-2023 (August 2023)
• APPG Communities of Inquiry Across Generations Year in Review 2022-2023 (July 2023)

2020 to 2022

• SOAS ICOP Two-Year in Review 2020-2022 (February 2022)
• The First Year of Better-Informed Policymaking with ICOP (January 2021)
• SOAS ICOP: A Review of the First Nine Months (October 2020)