Human rights, academic freedom and international scholarly engagement

Human rights violations – specifically infringements on academic freedom – have been increasingly common in the last two decades. The phenomenon affects every aspect of international scholarly engagement: informal dialogue and collaborations, organizing conferences, publications in international journals, university partnerships and student exchanges. 

Thus, the American Society of Public Administration, one of the world’s leading scientific organization in Public Administration, decided to form a new presidential committee consisting of nine members, chaired by Prof. Alasdair Roberts, Director of the School of Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. 

The aim of the Presidential Committee on International Scholarly Engagement for 2022 is to think through how members of the scientific community – such as scientific organizations, universities, accrediting bodies, journals or researchers etc. – can handle situations that pose risks regarding academic freedom or human rights in general. The most highly acclaimed members of the field of Public Administration have been invited to the committee; six American and three European members, including Prof. György Hajnal, head of the Institute of Economics and Public Policy. 

More information on the Committee is available here and here.