On 18 October 2023, Academics in Solidarity was part of the event “Scholars at Risk, Scholars in Exile: How can we strengthen and better protect individual freedom of research and teaching” that took place at the Berlin State Library. The evening consisted of a panel discussion and subsequent lounge talks.

The panel included Prof. Dr. Nazan Maksudyan (Centre Marc Bloch, Berlin), Prof. Dr. Viktoria Sereda (Virtual Ukraine Institute for Advanced Study) and was moderated by Anja Wehler-Schöck (International Editor, Tagesspiegel).

The following lounge discussions were held with Irene Bollien (Science at Risk Emergency Office), Prof. Dr. Tuba İnal Çekiç (Center for Comparative Research on Democracy Berlin/Off-University), Dr. Oksana Zaporozhets (Georg-Simmel Center for Metropolitan Studies/Off-University) and Christina Rogers (Academics in Solidarity).

The event marked the launch of the new event series “Protecting Academic Freedom” which focuses on discussing current challenges to academic freedom worldwide. It is an initiative of the ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius and the Volkswagen Foundation, in cooperation with the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin and Tagesspiegel.