In an era of escalating authoritarianism, widening inequalities, and persistent threats to academic freedom, the higher education community has the potential to be a vital force for global solidarity.
But what can be done to resist current anti-democratic trends? What is the role of education in the fight for vibrant democracies and human rights? And how do we make our universities sites of active solidarity in this pivotal moment in history?
The SAIH Conference 2025 brings together scholars, students, policymakers, and activists to explore these urgent questions, in the intersection between academia and activism. We will examine the role of academia in defending democratic values, fostering international solidarity and shaping a more just and equitable future.
The conference is a collaboration between SAIH and the University of Oslo.
Program
- 11.00: Registration
- 11.30: Keynote speech by Professor Nadine Naber, Gender and Women's Studies Program and Global Asian Studies Program, University of Illinois
- Panel: Academia and Activism: Two worlds apart or part of the same world?
Moderator: Selma Bratberg, President, SAIH- Professor Paul Gready, Co-Director of the Centre for Applied Human Rights, University of York and UNESCO Chair on Protecting Human Rights Defenders and Expansion of Political Space
- Professor Srila Roy, Department of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand
- Karl Tristan Butalid, student activist from the Philippines
- LUNCH
- Virtual intervention by Farida Shaheed, UN Special Rapporteur on right to education
- Pan