The European Parliament's Panel for the Future of Science and Technology (STOA) hosted its fourth annual high-level conference on academic freedom on 5 February 2025.
The European Parliament's Panel for the Future of Science and Technology (STOA) hosted its fourth annual high-level conference on academic freedom on 5 February 2025. The event, entitled 'Perspectives on academic freedom in Europe and beyond,' gathered EU leaders and academic researchers to discuss this fundamental democratic value. It also served to preview STOA's annual EP Academic Freedom Monitor, a report that tracks changes in academic freedom across Europe. For the first time, the monitor includes a study of constitutional legal (de jure) protections in EU Member States.
Parliament's President Roberta Metsola and guest speakers Andrzej Szeptycki, Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Poland, representing the Polish presidency of the EU Council, and Ekaterina Zaharieva, European Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation delivered keynote addresses. The conference was hosted by Christian Ehler (EPP, Germany), chair of the STOA Panel.
President Metsola noted 'If we want Europe to lead ... we need scientists who are free to think, to challenge, and to push boundaries. That is how real ground-breaking innovation happens ... Let's be honest: without academic freedom, there is no competitiveness'.
Commissioner Zaharieva also underlined the link between academic freedom and a more competitive Europe: 'Without the ability to question freely, our scientists cannot deliver the high quality research our innovation capacity depends on.' In response to Parliament's legislative initiative report, she also reiterated her promise to propose legislation to protect academic freedom, based on the results of an ongoing study of Member States and countries outside the EU with high standards of academic freedom.
Andrzej Szeptycki noted that legal frameworks are not enough in themselves: other related topics such as funding for research intersect with academic freedom. He stressed that infrastructure, databases, free movement and promotion of trust in science are all related topics that contribute to a healthy and free academic community.
In his opening comments, Christian Ehler emphasised that the conference was set up because academic freedom is under threat. 'Norms we considered unchangeable two decades ago are now being questioned,' he said. As to the reason for protecting academic freedom, he noted: 'It's to protect democracy. I think that's why we are all here'.
The discussion continued with a panel discussion on the state of academic freedom in the EU with Christian Ehler, Andrzej Szeptycki, Marc Lemaître, Director General for Research and Innovation at the European Commission, and Professor Milena Žic Fuchs from the European Research Council. The discussion was moderated by Robert‑Jan Smits, President of the Executive Board of Eindhoven University of Technology.
Two parallel sessions discussed more detailed topics. The first, on international perspectives, welcomed panellists with experience in international organisations: Christina Meinecke‑Chalev from the EU Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Villano Qiriazi from the Council of Europe's Education department, and Robbert Dijkgraaf, the former Minister of Education, Culture, and Science of the Netherlands and Christian Ehler. Discussion focused on the current context of a world where democracy is backsliding in many countries. The discussants concurred that academic freedom is linked with both the decline of, and the fight to protect democratic principles. The distinction between positive (your right to do something) and negative (your right to be protected from something) freedoms was also brought up in the context of the right to teach, learn, and research - even controversial topics. Themes perceived as controversial (such as gender studies, Holocaust studies, or climate science, among others) are at the forefront of restrictions on academic freedom.
The second concurrent session featured the authors of the Academic Freedom Monitor: Peter Maassen from the University of Oslo and Vasiliki Costa and Olga Ceran from the University of Leiden, with Ferenc Hammer of ELTE University Budapest as moderator. The goal was to discuss the study's methodology and potential improvements based on the findings of the 2024 version to be published soon. In terms of the legal analysis, Vasiliki Costa and Olga Ceran pointed out that 'academic freedom' was rarely mentioned in European constitutions. However, related concepts, such as 'scientific freedom' appeared more often. On detailed analysis, their study is limited to constitutional protections alone, whereas the legal landscape is much more complex, with secondary laws and regulations that can additionally affect academic freedom. Both authors emphasised the important role of lawyers and legal scholars. Since academic freedom can be a controversial topic, a clear legal understanding can identify what constitutes an actual violation of rights. In the de facto analysis, Peter Maassen reiterated the results of the previous years' Monitors: no drastic decay was detected, rather, a slow erosion of perceived academic freedom. He also touched upon the options to assess and measure academic freedom: expanding the available methodologies, such as direct consultation of academics' lived experiences, could improve the monitor's qualitative depth in future iterations.
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Background: While there is no globally agreed definition of academic freedom, it is widely established that academic freedom encompasses three interdependent core elements: freedom to research, freedom to teach and study and freedom of academic expression.
Academic freedom is widely accepted as a fundamental value of higher education systems and as a prerequisite for well-functioning democratic societies. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union mentions academic freedom in Article II.13: 'The arts and scientific research shall be free of constraint. Academic freedom shall be respected'.
The EP STOA Forum for Academic Freedom, launched in 2022 under the patronage of President Roberta Metsola, fosters an intense and open dialogue with the academic community across the EU. Its annual highlight, the high-level conference is informed by the annual EP Academic Freedom Monitor and brings together politicians, experts and academia to debate how the protection and promotion of academic freedom can be strengthened in the EU.