18 February 2025
The Human Rights Committee of Sweden’s Scientific and Literary Academies recently published a statement on academic freedom and its significance for research, education, and the dissemination of scientific knowledge.
Photo: Rowan Heuvel/Unplash
The document is a summary of the Human Rights Committee of Sweden’s Scientific and Literary Academies’ view on academic freedom and aims to serve as a basis for public input and positions on both specific and general issues regarding academic freedom.
It is a particularly fitting moment to emphasize and remind ourselves of the fundamental importance of academic freedom. Now, more than ever. In practice, it is the very foundation for conducting research in the true sense with integrity, in a world where academic freedom is being threatened and curtailed at an alarming pace.
Sigrid Schottenius Cullhed, Associate professor in literary studies at Uppsala University
Photo: Eric Cullhed
Academic freedom encompasses the right to independently choose research topics, methods, and publishing channels, free from political, ideological, or commercial influence. It is seen as a fundamental part of a democratic society and enables citizens to access independent and reliable knowledge.
Threats to academic freedom can come from political governance, commercial interests, and extremist movements, but also from within academia through intolerance and what is referred to as cancel culture.
Academic freedom and democracy are closely interconnected. By conducting research and education independently of political and commercial interests, it ensures that citizens have access to knowledge that is factual and reliable. In a time characterised by rapid technological changes and disinformation, free universities play a crucial role as independent conveyors of knowledge. At the same time, a democratic state has a responsibility to uphold academic freedom, as it in turn contributes to the long-term stability of democracy. A strong support for curiosity-driven research is an important indicator that academic freedom is respected.
The committee emphasises the importance of safeguarding academic freedom to ensure that research and education are conducted freely and with high quality, as well as that scientific findings can be disseminated freely to society.
The Human Rights Committee of Sweden’s Scientific and Literary Academies consists of representatives from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, the Swedish Academy, and the Young Academy of Sweden.
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