Academic freedom is a prerequisite for scientific advancement and innovation. It serves as the cornerstone of scientific inquiry, granting scholars the unfettered ability to explore, teach, and disseminate ideas without fear of censorship or retribution. More recently, academic freedom has faced mounting political, economic, and social pressures, bringing it back into the global spotlight. Safeguarding this freedom is essential for the continued pursuit of knowledge and the betterment of society. 

The European Parliament, through its standing committee Science and Technology Options Assessment (STOA), commissioned a study on monitoring academic freedom. The study “The state of play of academic freedom in the EU member states” has been led by Peter Maassen, a participant in this Frontiers’ webinar. This follows numerous European and global organizations and networks raising concerns, calling for action, and protection against threats to academic freedom (The European University Alliance (EUA), the League of European Research University (LERU), Scholars at Risk, etc.). Several recent ad hoc events and panels on the subject have also shown the importance and urgency in addressing the matter. Yet, there is still a lack of a permanent forum for factual and constructive dialogue among scholars, academic leaders, civil society groups, and policy makers.  

Throughout the second half of the 20th century academic freedom has developed in many societies into a widely acknowledged and legally protected fundamental value of academia. This coincided with the recognition of academic freedom as a prerequisite for well-functioning open and democratic societies that adhere to the rule of law. An important condition for this role of academic freedom to be realized is that academics use it to acquire, generate and apply knowledge in ways that are essential for their societies.