Project description
Academic freedom and higher education politics during the Cold War
In response to rising nationalism and populist rhetoric, researchers are exploring the historical development of academic freedom in the second half of the 20th century. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the FREEDOM project will focus on how this foundational value became central to international discourse on higher education during the emergence of the liberal world order. By examining the role of international organisations such as UNESCO as ‘teachers of norms’, the project tracks conceptual shifts within global policy networks. Overall, it aims to de-westernise the concept of academic freedom and to provide context-sensitive insights, offering a more robust defence against contemporary geopolitical tensions and various attempts to instrumentalise scholarship for political agendas.
Objective
In the recent context of rising nationalisms, populist anti-science rhetoric, and geopolitical tensions, universities and other higher education institutions are under pressure. Academic freedom, one of the foundational pillars of liberal democracy and central to the pluralist character of academic research and higher education, is threatened by attempts to instrumentalise science and scholarship for the realisation of political agendas. The aim of the FREEDOM project is to investigate how academic freedom became a vital value within international discourses on the politics of higher education during the emergence of the liberal world order in the second half of the 20th century. The project takes a special interest in the role of international organisations (IOs), specifically UNESCO and affiliated agencies, as ‘teachers of norms’ in the development of the concept of academic freedom during the Cold War as part of geopolitical alliance building, international diplomacy, and East-West tensions. To pursue this aim, FREEDOM constructs a novel interdisciplinary methodology that combines insights and techniques from education studies, history, and political science to study the intellectual-historical development of the idea of academic freedom and the conceptual shifts experienced through processes of transfer and translation within global networks of policy. FREEDOM is premised on the assumption that the critical scrutiny of the liberal value of academic freedom in its historical and contextual contingency during the emergence of the liberal world order in the Cold War years will de-westernize commonly held assumptions about academic freedom and provide more robust and context-sensitive understandings of academic freedom, necessary to address the threats of nationalism, populism and geopolitical tension.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
8000 Aarhus C
Denmark
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.