Circle U: Is Academic Freedom at Risk?

Date: 21 Apr. 2026, 14:15 – 15:30 CEST (Europe/Brussels)

Place: Circle U.

Format: online

Language: English

Part of a Circle U. course on the topic, this conference led by Adam Fagan from King’s College London is open to the entire Circle U. community. Master students in Political Science, International Relations, European Studies, Area Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies across Circle U. universities are particularly encouraged to join.

Academic freedom in the United Kingdom, and more broadly across the Western liberal democratic world, is commonly understood as a distinctive right that enables scholars to pursue, publish, and teach knowledge without undue institutional or political interference. Unlike general freedom of speech, it is grounded in professional expertise and carried out within institutional responsibilities and norms.

This conference examines how academic freedom is defined, how it differs from broader free speech, why it is currently perceived to be under pressure, and what measures are considered necessary to defend and strengthen it. It also compares developments in the United Kingdom and Europe with those in the United States.

In the UK, academic freedom is increasingly seen as facing simultaneously pressure from two directions:

Government intervention, most notably the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, has raised concerns that efforts to protect open inquiry may instead risk politicising university governance.
Campus activism and protest, particularly surrounding the Israel–Palestine conflict, have intensified debates over the limits of permissible expression in academic settings.

Protecting academic freedom requires robust institutional autonomy, clear policy frameworks, and a campus culture valuing genuinely open, evidence-based debate.

This lecture is part of the new joint course titled “Academic Freedom at Risk”, developed within Democracy Knowledge Hub, and it is open to entire Circle U. community.

Keynote speaker: