Pub­lic pro­gramme: Aca­d­e­m­ic Free­dom Week 2025

Together with its partners within the Berlin University Alliance, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the consortium of the New University in Exile, Humboldt-Universität offers a series of events to discuss these questions. The Academic Freedom Week 2025 will take place ahead of the Philipp Schwartz Initiative conference, which will also be held at HU on 3 and 4 April.

Please register by email for each part of the programme you would like to attend. All events will take place on HU‘s Mitte campus; more detailed information will be sent directly to registered participants.

1:30pm – 3:00pm

Internal workshop with at-risk researchers from the Scholars-At-Risk Berlin-Brandenburg network

What does agency mean to you as an at-risk researcher? What do you need in order to feel a clear sense of agency in the academic field in Germany? What actions can or should universities in the Global North take to ensure academic solidarity? All discussions will take place in a protected environment, a safe space, and are subject to the Chatham House Rule. This workshop is open to at-risk researchers exclusively.

4:00pm – 6:00pm

Opening of the Academic Freedom Week 2025

• Opening speech Dr. Yoan Vilain, LL.M. (HU Vice-Provost for International and European Affairs)

• "Lightning Talks"

At-risk researchers and artists present projects they are woring on in Berlin and Brandenburg

• Input

Einstein Foundation

• Panel discussion: Promoting at-risk researchers' agency in times of societal polarization in Germany

At-risk researchers and artists in Germany work and live in a socio-political context marked by a dramatic rise in xenophobia and right-wing pressure. However, programmes for at-risk researchers and artists often encounter the limited capacity of universities to create fair and need-based structures for unconventional biographies – both in terms of career prospects and knowledge production.

In this context, we aim to make the experiences and perspectives of at-risk researchers and artists in Berlin and Brandenburg visible. Additionally, we will discuss the options available to academic administrations in creating and ensuring inclusive spaces that promote individual agency.

Speakers: Fellows at Risk (HU and Freie Universität), Prof. Dr. Schneider (Vice President for Research, HU), Dr. Verena Namberger (Deputy Head of the Centre for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging), Dr. Melanie Waldheim (Universität der Künste)

1:00pm – 5:00pm

Seventh annual New University in Exile conference

The New University in Exile's annual conference focuses on the theme of displacement. It critically examines the causes and consequences of displacement, as well as its impact on freedom of expression, academic freedom, democracy, human rights, gender equality, and public health.

3:00pm – 6:00pm

Universities' Global Responsibility

Through programmes for at-risk researchers, universities contribute to addressing international societal challenges. These efforts consist in creating welcoming structures for researchers who are victims of forced migration. In light of globally increasing geopolitical instability and attacks on the structures of international law and mechanisms of global solidarity, the following questions arise for universities: How can they sustain and effectively continue their support efforts? What forms can academic solidarity take in this current context?

3:00pm – 4:00pm

• Welcome address by Prof. Dr. Julia von Blumenthal, President of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Keynote by Prof. Dr. Nazan Maksudyan, Centre Marc Bloch: "Refuge in Research: Jewish Exile Scholars in Turkey, 1935-50"
  

4:15pm – 6:00pm

• Performance "Taking Sides – Hidden Research Project", Berlin Center for Global Engagement
• Q&A and panel discussion with the project team