Academic Freedom: Problems and Strategies Event

Academic Freedom has recently become a headline issue in the UK - usually in relation to some specific areas of controversy including the Prevent duty "to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism", questions of trans rights, criticism of the state of Israel, and "de-colonising" of the curriculum, all of which relate to broader freedom of speech issues and their relationship to equalities and dignity of others - and the controversial Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill continues its journey through Parliament, again bridging freedom of speech and academic freedom.

But what other structural and political factors influence, support, or limit the possibility of academic freedom? How do developments in the UK relate to broader challenges and possibilities for academic freedom around the world?

This event will be an opportunity to consider the wider landscape of academic freedom, from the implications of marketisation of higher education, to the possibilities and threats of digital infrastructure; from global inequalities in access to knowledge and critique, to higher education's historical role in establishing and maintaining power inequalities.

This will also be an opportunity to strategise together as participants in academia, both staff and student. What does and should academic freedom mean to us? What might we do to protect or extend it?

To open up the discussion, Dr Milica Popovic, Warwick IAS Fernandes Fellow based at the Global Observatory on Academic Freedom, Central European University, Vienna, will briefly present the upcoming report on Academic Freedom in France and the United Kingdom, prepared by Dr Daniele Joly and Dr Milica Popovic. Professor Hannah Jones, Department of Sociology, University of Warwick, will offer a response and reflection, particularly relating to the UK and Warwick situation, to be followed by informal discussion.

There will also be tea, coffee and donuts.

Where: Room B2.02 (Science Concourse), University of Warwick

When: Tuesday 22 November, 9.30-11.00

Any queries, please contact h.jones.1@warwick.ac.uk

This event is supported by the Warwick IAS Fernandes Fellowship scheme.