Programme
Academic freedom in a new era
European National Young Academies Meeting 2023
May 3-4, 2023, StockholmIn May 2023, all European Young Academies are invited to Stockholm to take part in discussing the future of European research.
Our proposition is to base these discussions on the notion of academic freedom: what that future does, should and could hold on the notion of academic freedom.
Academic freedom takes many forms, as do the possible threats to its existence, which currently is on the rise across Europe and in individual European national states. While some scholars might experience threats from foreign or domestic political pressures, others might find lack of financial stability a threat to achieve a state of free and creative thinking. Yet others might be the target of threats or smear campaigns, based on the nature of their research or findings.
Indeed, just as the challenges to academic freedom varies between disciplines, countries and groups, the discussion of how to safeguard such a freedom in the future will necessarily be polyphonic and multi-faceted. in the spirit of the Young Academies of Europe, we welcome such a plurality of voices and see this as a starting point for identifying emergent challenges for independent research in Europe today, to and to advance creative and bold solutions in defence of academic freedom, with a special attention to the conditions for junior scholars.
In the ENYA meeting, we want to make use of the opportunity to create something new, and profoundly constructive. We aim to create a young academy vision for academic freedom in Europe – we want to set a mark for 2030. What opportunities do we see presenting themselves in the year 2030?
Creating our own ideal road forwards will also open up a discussion of our own future roles and responsibilities: as research leaders, teachers, activists, public figures – or unfettered free thinkers, and to what degree do such roles overlap, or work in contradiction to each other?
Welcome to the ENYA meeting in 2023!
Programme – ENYA Symposium
May 3 (open for max. one staff officer, max. two members per YA)
Venue: Kungl. Vitterhetsakademien, Villagatan 3, Stockholm9.00 Arrival/registration
9.30 Best practice exchange
● Welcome● Round of introductions
● Best practise exchange
● Fika
12.00 – 13.00 Lunch
13.00 – 15.00 Academic freedom workshop
● Presentation of draft text● Small group discussions
● Plenary discussion and revision
15.00 Break
15.30 – 16.30 Academic leadership
● Strengthening the integrity and responsibility of researchers● Group discussion
16.30 – Transport to City Hall
17.00 – Reception and guided tour of the City Hall
The Nobel Banquet is held annually in the Blue Hall of Stockholm City Hall.18.30 – Transport to Nobel Prize Museum
19.00 – 21.00 – Dinner and guided tour at the Nobel Prize Museum
Programme – Open ENYA Symposium
May 4 (open conference)
Venue: Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Lilla Frescativägen 4A, StockholmIt will be possible to follow the conference online.
9.00 – Arrival/registration/Coffee
9.30 – Opening session
Moderator: Mia Liinason, Chair Young Academly of Sweden
The European Research Area (ERA) aims to create a ‘single, borderless market for research, innovation and technology across the EU’; what are our hopes and concerns for that development? Is it a ‘market’ we are hoping for? How do we see the current political climate affecting, supporting, or being dependent on academic freedom?
● Opening remarks – what is the new era?
● The role of academic freedom for democracy
Keynote: Knowledge resistance and its consequences for academic freedom
Prof. Åsa Wikforss, professor in theoretical philosophy, Stockholm University, Sweden
10.10 – Session 1 – Funding Freedom
Moderator: Marie-José van Tol, De Jonge Akademie, Netherlands
Is academic freedom the start or the endpoint, and who should pay the price for it? What is needed to enable free academic practices such as open-ended curiosity and long-term, high-risk projects, not exclusively those with a clear application? If such systems would be fully in place within Europe, what would be the effects: are there risks, concerns and potential losers?
● Investigator-driven breakthroughs
● Funding ecosystems
● Curiosity as presupposition or privilege
● Panel discussion
Confirmed speakers:
The role, opportunities, and restriction for funding agencies to promote academic freedom
Arne Flåøyen, Director Nordforsk, Norway
The tensions between the necessity of science communication and the other seemingly necessary logic of branding in science and HE
Dr. Salla-Maaria Laaksonen, adjunct professor in Media & Communication Studies, Centre for Consumer Society Research, University of Helsinki, Finland
The Index of academic freedom, and the economic aspects at play
Dr. Lars Pelke, postdoctoral researcher, Institute of Political Science, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
12.00 Lunch
13.00 Session 2 – The impact of freedom
Moderator: Timo de Wolff, Die Junge Akademie, Germany
How do we see the ideal balance between the needs of society and academic freedom – is there a tension between them? How do academic assessment regimes currently interact with academic freedom, and how could such regimes work in the future? How would we hope academic freedom looks in 2030; what societal effects would that have?
● Is there a conflict between societal needs and researcher freedom?
● Agenda 2030
● Regimes of Assessment
● Panel discussion
Confirmed speakers:
Academic Freedom in Scandinavia: has the Nordic model survived?
Prof. Terence Karran, professor of Higher Education Policy, University of Lincoln, United Kingdom
The missing guardrails of academic freedom in Sweden
Prof. Shirin Ahlbäck Öberg, professor in Political Science, Uppsala University, Sweden
14.30 – 15.00 Fika
15.00 Session 3 – The role of a free scholar
Moderator: Jacek Kolanowski, Chair Polish Young Academy
Do researchers have certain opportunities or responsibilities to safeguard, discuss, and impact discussions on freedom? How do we keep, repair, or establish trust in scientific practices? Is there any potential friction between research activism and research integrity? With established principles of academic freedom, such as the Magna Charta Universitatum, long in place, what does and could the practice look like?● Activists and research integrity
● Populism and the trust in science
● Magna Charta Universitatum – from principle to practice
● Panel discussion
Confirmed speakers:
Challenging scientific dogmas – a fight against multiple opponents
Prof. Christine Stabell Benn, professor in Global Heath, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
Internal and external obstacles and opportunities
Prof. Christina Moberg, professor in Organic Chemistry at Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, Sweden, former president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Autonomy for whom? Self-governance of what? The changing institutional conditions for the exercise of academic freedom
Prof. Sharon Rider, professor in Logic and Metaphysics, Uppsala University, Sweden
17.00 – Closing session
Moderator: Lisa Hellman, Young Academy of Sweden
● Reflections and looking ahead
● Closing remarks