The Inspireurope project and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s Philipp Schwartz Initiative in cooperation with the Scholars at Risk Germany Section, hosted the second Inspireurope Stakeholder Forum on April 26-27, 2021.
Acknowledging the growing pressures on academic freedom in regions across the globe, the 2021 Philipp Schwartz and Inspireurope Stakeholder Forum highlighted the state of academic freedom in Belarus, Brazil, Turkey and elsewhere. It reflected on the situation and the work of displaced scholars who have found refuge in other countries and highlighted the work underway in Europe to support at-risk academics and to strengthen academic freedom. It also looked back at the first five years of the Philipp Schwartz Initiative.
In collaboration with Academics in Solidarity, a mentoring programme hosted at Freie Universität Berlin, a particular focus was placed on offering hands-on coaching and information sessions for at-risk academics. Other sessions offered networking and mutual learning opportunities for academic mentors and other representatives of host institutions.
You can view here the 2021 Philipp Schwartz and Inspireurope Stakeholder Forum programme
The following sessions were open to the public and you can view the videos from these sessions below.
1. The opening plenary which consisted of the following sessions:
- 'Welcome address' from Judith Wellen and Frank Albrecht, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
- 'The Philipp Schwartz Initiative - 5 Years On' with Enno Aufderheide, Secretary General, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and Minister of State Michelle Müntefering, Federal Foreign Office
- 'European Policy Action for Researchers at Risk' with Sinead O’Gorman, Director, Scholars at Risk Europe, Michael Murphy, President, European University Association, and Themis Christophidou, Director-General of Education, Youth, Sport, Culture, European Commission
'Global responses: Measuring academic freedom', with Robert Quinn, Executive Director, Scholars at Risk Network and Ilyas Saliba, Research Fellow, Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi)
2. 'Rebuilding a Research Career at the Intersection of Gender and Risk' with Beate Scholz, Scholz CTC (moderator), N. Ekrem Düzen, Bielefeld University, Yudit Namer, Bielefeld University and Curt Rice, Oslo Metropolitan University
On day 2 of the Forum (April 27th), a session took place on 'Establishing national level initiatives for researchers at risk', in which the following presentations were delivered:
- Presentation by Frank Albrecht on the Philipp Schwartz Initiative 27.4.21
- Presentation by Laura Loheac on the PAUSE programme, College de France 27.4.21
- Presentation by Sini Piippo on the EDUFI/ SRF programme, Finland 27.4.21
- Presentation on establishing a SAR Section, Orla Duke 27.4.21