Call for paper and panel proposals
“Academic Freedom and Democracy”
2nd ICON.S Austrian Chapter Conference
Academic freedom is under increasing pressure across the globe. In recent years, we have witnessed mounting threats to scholars, universities, and other academic institutions. One may think of the growing influence of market forces, political interference, authoritarian tendencies, and even physical violence against academics. These developments pose significant challenges not only to the autonomy of academia but also to the broader democratic order.
The conference adopts a broad understanding of academic freedom, encompassing both individual and institutional dimensions. It seeks to illuminate how academic freedom interacts with and supports other fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, and the right to privacy. These intersections are of increasing importance as societies grapple with democratic backsliding, technological transformation, and global crises.
The conference aims to address the overarching concept of academic freedom in public law as well as concrete challenges of the 21st century, highlighting its essential role in sustaining democracy and democratic development. We welcome global perspectives from all continents, while placing particular emphasis on experiences in Central and Eastern Europe, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. The conference will approach the topic from a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective, exploring themes such as, but not limited to:
Legal foundations
- The enshrinement and protection of academic freedom in constitutional and international public law
- Constitutional, statutory and regulatory limits to academic freedom
Academic freedom under internal pressure
- Peer review as peer pressure?
- Hierarchies within universities
- Institutional constraints on individual scholars
Academic freedom under external pressure
- The role of academic freedom in resisting authoritarianism and democratic backsliding
- The impact of privatisation, marketisation, and performance-based funding on academic autonomy
- Budgets and financial constraints on universities and academic freedom
- Physical violence against academics and material destruction of institutions
- Publishing companies as gatekeepers
Democracy and Society
- The relevance and the functions of academic freedom in a democratic society
- The role of universities in generating expert knowledge for democratic societies
- The relationship between academic freedom and broader societal trust in science and education
- Third mission as giving back to society or as an additional burden to academic freedom?
Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence
- Threats emerging from social media: distrust, harassment, algorithmic distortion
- Digital literacy as a precondition for academic freedom
- Digitalisation, surveillance and the reshaping of academic spaces and expression
- Access to knowledge: AI as a threat or a chance?
- Transformation of knowledge creation in the age of AI
The selection process will be conducted by the program committee of the 2nd ICON.S Austrian Chapter Conference, which will strive for choosing high-standard, innovative proposals as well as bringing together a diverse group of scholars. Scholars of all ages and career stages are invited to submit. We particularly want to encourage early career scholars to do so.
Submit your proposals of panels and papers until 1 March 2026 here