European National Young Academies Meeting - Academic Freedom in a new era

2023-05-03

Date: Wednesday–Thursday, May 3-4 2023
Venue: Kungl, Vitterhesakademien (May 3), The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden (May 4)
Host: The Young Academy of Sweden

For two days in 2023 all European Young Academies are invited to Stockholm to take part in discussing the future of European research.

Preliminary program

In 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!

May 3

Venue: Vitterhetsakademien, Villagatan 3, Stockholm

9.00 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

May 4

Venue: Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Lilla Frescativägen 4A

9.00 – Arrival/registration/Coffee

9.30 – Opening session
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?
Keynote: The role of academic freedom for democracy

Prof. Åsa Wikforss, professor in theoretical philosophy, Stockholm University. Member of Swedish Academy, leading a RJ-funded program on knowledge resistance (2019-2024)

10.10 – Session 1 – Funding Freedom
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:
Arne Flåøyen, Director Nordforsk
Dr. Lars Pelke, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Salla-Maaria Laaksonen, university of Helsinki

12.00 Lunch

13.00 Session 2 – The impact of freedom
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:
Prof. Terrence Karran, university of Lincoln
Prof. Shirin Ahlbäck Öberg, university of Uppsala

14.30 – 15.00 Fika

15.00 Session 3 – The role of a free scholar
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:
Prof. Christine Stabell Benn, Chair Danish Institute for Advanced Studies
Prof. Roger Pielke Jr, Department of Environmental Studies
Prof. Christina Moberg, Professor in organic chemistry at KTH, President of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 2015–2018
Prof. Sharon Rider, Uppsala university

17.00 – Closing session

Reflections and looking ahead
Closing remarks

17.30 – End

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