An Iranian scholar who lost his PhD place at a prestigious French university has alleged he was subjected to “arbitrary and discriminatory” security checks.
Sina Nikneshan was due to begin studying “machine learning applied to Byzantine seals” at Sorbonne University this academic year.
The programme was due to be based primarily in a history laboratory with a co-supervisor in computer science. However Nikneshan was informed that he would be?subject to a security screening, despite the non-secure status of the laboratory.
While security clearance is mandatory for researchers aiming to work in a “ZRR” lab –?zone à régime restrictif, or restricted zone – these conditions did not apply to Nikneshan’s intended base.
In September, he was informed via email that because the university’s security officer had issued a negative opinion on his security clearance, his registration would be overturned and his fees refunded – despite the office’s opinion being advisory only for a non-ZRR lab.
While reasons for the opinion are not stated, Nikneshan believes it was connected to his Iranian nationality.
By the time he received the decision, he said he had already “paid my tuition fees and received my official student card and a certificate of enrolment signed by the university president. I was, by every measure, a registered Sorbonne PhD student”.
In an October letter, however, the Sorbonne president’s office said that his registration was withdrawn?owing to the lack of an appropriate co-supervisor, as the programme required a supervisor from both history and computer science.
Nikneshan’s original co-supervisor in computer science, he told?THE, withdrew from the project after his security clearance was denied, while his primary supervisor attempted to appeal his case to the university but was unsuccessful.
Despite asking for clarification on why he required clearance to work in a non-ZRR lab, Nikneshan said he has not received a satisfactory explanation from the university. “The subject is not sensitive – it’s working on historical images,” he said.
Asked for comment, Sorbonne pointed?THE?towards the letter Nikneshan received.
The university’s decision has left Nikneshan in an “impossible situation”, he told?THE. He turned down other PhD offers to accept the place at Sorbonne, and cannot renew his residence permit to remain in France while unregistered in a programme.
“This decision had such an effect on me,” he said. “I lost this programme and all the other acceptances I had.”
“I don’t have a residence permit, so I cannot work, and I don’t have money to pay my rent.”
“Now, I’m always overthinking,” he added. “Why did all of this happen? Why did they do this to me?” Sorbonne has since readvertised his PhD position, he noted, now with a January starting date.
“I’m still motivated to do a PhD, so I might go home and apply for other countries,” Nikneshan said. Despite completing his master’s at Paris-Est Créteil University and subsequently undertaking an internship at a joint Sorbonne/CNRS laboratory, he said, “I will not choose France again, because of all they’ve done.”
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