Academic Freedom, Social Responsibility, and the Need to Exercise Them with Sina Westa

Higher Education Researcher

Sina Westa is a research associate at the Catholic University Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. In this episode, Sina talks about her research on academic freedom, conducted during her PhD at the University of Ljubljana within the Marie Curie ITN framework (Universities in the Knowledge Economy). Sina highlights that academic freedom is a highly political concept that is dependent on time and space. On the one hand, exercising this right is connected to a high degree of social responsibility; and on the other hand, it needs to be exercised continuously to be safeguarded. Especially in times of the current COVID pandemic and the connected impetus of science and research, more attention needs to be given to an open discussion of academic freedom and individual freedoms in more broadly.

Talking to Sina is Dr Janja Komljenovic from CHERE@LU.