"Reimagining Academic Freedom" at Austria’s French Institute Features CEU’s Global Observatory on Academic Freedom

On Thursday, April 13, at 6 p.m. “Reimagining Academic Freedom,” a round table, will be co-presented by the Global Observatory on Academic Freedom (GOAF) and the French Institute in Austria, where the event will be held. Shalini Randeria, President and Rector of Central European University (CEU), and Gilles Pécout, Ambassador of the Republic of France in Austria, will provide opening remarks. The roundtable will be in person only, and will be bilingual in English and French, with translation provided. To attend, register here by April 6.

The Global Observatory on Academic Freedom (GOAF) was established in March 2021, funded by the Open Society University Network (OSUN) and hosted by CEU. The activities of the observatory are currently led by a fellow-in-residence at the Yehuda Elkana Center for Teaching, Learning, and Higher Education Research, Milica Popovic, who will provide an introduction to the round table, along with Johannes Caliskan, Attaché of scientific and university cooperation.

The discussion will open the question of the future of academic freedom in a global context of declining democracy, environmental crisis, upcoming recession and the war in Ukraine. Featured speakers span the Austrian and the French panorama of higher education and research: Elisabeth Fiorioli, Secretary General, Österreichische Universitätenkonferenz (Universities Austria); Béatrice Hibou, Director of Research CNRS, Sciences Po Paris, Pascale Laborier, Professor, Institut of Social Sciences and Politics, University Paris Nanterre; and Ivan Vejvoda, Permanent Fellow, Director of « Europe’s Futures – Ideas for action », Institut für die; moderated by Dominik Reisner, Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research, Republic of Austria. 

GOAF conducts rigorous, innovative and pertinent scientific research responding to the urgent need of rethinking the concept of academic freedom in a global context of the decline of democracy. The observatory initiates and stimulates the debate, connects the interested stakeholders, and opens the space for reflection and research to scholars and students in order to strengthen the struggle for academic freedom, in Europe and beyond. 

Visit here to read GOAF’s research publications.