Academic freedom is at risk – what steps can we take to defend it?
Research day
At the annual research day (‘toogdag’) of the research programme Effective Protection of Fundamental Rights in a Pluralist World (EPFR), researchers reflected on the growing threats scholars face due to political repression, conflict or displacement, and how to protect them.
The research day on 14 May was centred around the theme ‘At Risk: Scholars, Academic Freedom, and the Fight to Protect Both’. The theme reflected the growing urgency of supporting scholars who face threats due to political repression, conflict, or displacement. As coordinator of the research program, Nadia Sonneveld opened the event: 'Let us not forget. It is dangerous to look away, assuming the suppression of academic freedom is a distant problem—happening 'there,' not 'here.' This creates a false sense of security. Erosion is often gradual. If we allow it to grow, sooner or later, it will be our turn—and perhaps our turn has already come.' She reflected on the program’s growing commitment to concrete support mechanisms, including the Scholars for Scholars Leiden initiative launched last year.
First-hand experiences of scholars at risk
Attendees heard directly from those affected by the troubling developments around academic freedom. Three scholars at risk shared their personal and academic experiences navigating violence, censorship, and exile.
Pius Mosima, PhD (Leiden University / VU Amsterdam), discussed how academic freedom and democracy in Africa are shaped by historical legacies and contemporary political challenges. In his presentation, titled ‘Knowledge and Power: Rethinking Academic Freedom in Africa’s Democratic Struggles’, he argued that the two are inseparable in the quest for epistemic sovereignty: the right to control one’s own knowledge systems.
Lesia Kulchynska, PhD (University of Amsterdam), presented her research on visual culture in Ukraine. Her work, ‘The Lure of Fixed Meanings: From Censored Images to Coerced Bodies’, reflects on how acts of censorship and violence against images intersect with violence against human bodies, particularly in the context of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war.
Yuliia Kurnyshova, PhD (NIAS / University of Helsinki / University of Tartu) spoke about changes in Ukraine’s academic community in her presentation titled ‘Normative Agency in Times of War: The Case of Ukraine’. Despite facing existential challenges, Ukraine’s academic community has developed new cognitive frameworks and patterns of research that are reshaping the field of Ukrainian and Eastern European studies.
Academic freedom as a human right
Vasiliki Kosta, Associate Professor at the Europa Institute, delivered the featured talk titled ‘What is Academic Freedom and What Are Its Justifications as a Fundamental Human Right?’. She explored the evolving understanding of academic freedom, especially in the context of EU law. Addressing the ambiguity that often hinders its legal protection, she offered theoretical justifications for academic freedom as a right that underpins democratic societies.
Inspiration for the future
The research day provided programme members the opportunity to combine firsthand insights and knowledge about the challenges to academic freedom and the protection of scholars with scholarly and legal debates on the precise meaning of academic freedom. These new perspectives may inspire their research in the coming year, potentially leading to more concrete and impactful steps forward.
Introducing New EPFR Members
The event was also a great opportunity to introduce four new members of the EPFR research programme:
Santy Kouwagam (Van Vollenhoven Institute) does socio-legal research in Indonesia, with a particular focus on rethinking law and aging through comparative lenses.
Gavin Robinson (eLaw) researches the intersection of criminal law, digital technologies, and fundamental rights, reflecting on how emerging technologies challenge traditional legal frameworks.
Lisa Harms (Van Vollenhoven Institute) looks at the rights of nature and how these concepts are spreading transnationally while being interpreted through local governance contexts
Emma de Vries (Europa Institute) does work on the position, scope and substance of academic freedom in the European Convention on Human Rights.