Mari Elken: ”Academic freedom in Europe: key trends and future outlooks”

In recent years, growing attention to academic freedom can be observed in both policy and scholarly domains. Various monitoring exercises have identified a general decline in academic freedom in several European countries. Threats to academic freedom come from multiple sources, including political interference, institutional management and leadership, societal actors, and private sector. In addition, both institutional leadership and the academic community itself can pose threats to academic freedom. Moreover, the growing securitization of science is raising new questions about the appropriate balance between security concerns and academic freedom. The presentation takes stock on recent analysis of the threats to academic freedom across Europe, as well as the initiatives to safeguard academic freedom both on European level and selected national examples.

Mari Elken is an associate professor at the Department of Education at the University of Oslo. Her work is concentrated on issues of governance, policy and organization of higher education. She has been involved in providing independent expert analysis for the European Parliament Academic Freedom Monitor, and is also leading a Young Researcher Talent project on organizational transformations of higher education institutions. Currently, she is also the leader of the research group Higher Education Leadership, Governance and Academic Development.

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Paneeli

• Puheenjohtaja: VTT, vuoden tieteentekijä 2025, Timo R. Stewart
• Panelistit:
  • Professori Tuija Saresma, Itä-Suomen Yliopisto
  • Tutkimusprofessori Johanna Annala, Jyväskylän yliopisto
  • Apurahatutkija  Paula Silvén, Tampereen yliopisto
  • Tiede- ja taiderahoituksen johtaja Kalle Korhonen, Koneen Säätiö

Panel discussion

• Chair: Dr., the academic of the year 2025, Timo R. Stewart
• Panelists
  • Professor Tuija Saresma, University of Eastern Finland 
  • Research Professor Johanna Annala, University of Jyväskylä
  • Grant researcher Paula Silvén, Tampere University
  • Director of Funding Kalle Korhonen, Kone Foundation