Format: Hybrid – on-site at the University of Agder (UiA) and online via Zoom -Password: 453622
Programme
12:30–12:40 | Welcome and introduction
Ronald Mayora Synnes (Associate Professor Department of sociology and social work University of Agder). Brief presentation of the topic, speakers, and the academic framework of the seminar.
12:40–13:10 | Academic freedom – a general perspective
Sindre Bangstad (Research Professor, KIFO) opens the seminar with a reflection on academic freedom, its normative foundations, and key contemporary challenges in politically polarized democracies.
13:10–13:35 | Academic freedom in Argentina: political polarization, public debate, and self-censorship
Brenda M. Focas (Professor, Universidad Nacional de San Martín / Researcher at CONICET) This presentation examines how political polarization, public criticism of academia, and processes of delegitimization—particularly affecting the social sciences and humanities—challenge academic freedom in Argentina. The focus is on the tension between formal university autonomy and actual constraints on research, teaching, and public engagement.
13:35–14:00 | Intramural and extramural academic freedom: gender, precarity, and institutional inequality
Luciana Anapios (Researcher at CONICET / Associate Professor, Universidad Nacional de San Martín) Drawing on researchers’ experiences, this presentation explores how academic freedom is practiced differently within academic institutions (intramural) and in the public sphere (extramural), with particular attention to gender, career stage, institutional position, and growing structural precarity in the Argentine research system.
14:00–14:30 | Discussion and Q&A
Open to both on-site and online participants.