The Shadow Scholars

Behind the scenes of global academia, a hidden industry thrives—where highly educated Kenyans write essays for Western students.

In The Shadow Scholars, Oxford professor Patricia Kingori travels to Nairobi to investigate this surprising industry. What starts as an inquiry into academic ghostwriting soon reveals a deeper story—one tied to inequality, colonial history, and the global job market. As Kingori uncovers more about how and why this industry exists, her perspective begins to shift. The film challenges assumptions about academic integrity and exposes the far-reaching consequences of a system that enables students to buy knowledge while those producing it remain in the shadows. A gripping and eye-opening documentary that challenges what we think we know about academia. 

Can’t make it to this film during InScience in Nijmegen? Then you have another chance at our satellite edition in Wageningen. This film will be shown on March 22 at 19:00 in Visum Mundi. For more information, click here.

TALK Do you need me to write your PhD thesis? Students regularly receive messages like these, and some may even turn to ghostwriters. But how do these practices impact research integrity? Similarly, large pharmaceutical companies engage in ghostwriting and outsource research work to low-income countries. Experienced research integrity and public health policy scientist Gowri Gopalakrishna (Maastricht University) will discuss these issues with Amna Pottarath (Radboud University) and Candida Sanchez Burmester (Maastricht University), both PhD candidates who have an expertise in research integrity.