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
- Panel: Universities as sites of solidarity: what does it mean and how do we get there?
Moderator: Professor Peris Jones, Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo- Sindisa Monakali, Chairperson, Equal Education
- Enes Hocao?ullar?, Coordinator of International Advocacy and Fundraising, UniKuir
- Maryam Taher, Universities of Sanctuary
- Alejandro Mantilla, Head of the Office of Interinstitutional Relations at Universidad Pedagógica Nacional and professor in the Department of Political Science at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
- Break and discussions
- Virtual intervention by Henry A. Giroux, McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest in the English and Cultural Studies Department and the Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy
- Panel: How do we foster more international solidarity within the Norwegian higher education sector?
Moderator: Jorunn Dahl Norg?rd, Fagsjef, Forskerforbundet- Karen-Lise Knudsen, Former Chair of Scholars at Risk Norway and Senior Advisor, University of Agder
- Eva Maria Fjellheim, PhD in Indigenous Studies, UiT and Independent Southern Saami researcher, cultural worker, activist and journalist.
- Hege Bae Nyholt, Chair of the Standing Committee on Education and Research.
- Keynote speech by Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the BDS movement for Palestinian rights, recipient of the 2017 Gandhi Peace Award
- 16.00: End of program.
- 18.00: Informal program at the SAIH office (Gr?nlandsleiret 25) with discussions, drinks and music.
Registration
Welcome!