Highlights of the NIAS Opening of the Academic Year 2026/2027

The new academic year at NIAS began with a question that ran through the entire event: what does freedom mean when the space for it is shrinking? Across academia, journalism and the arts, speakers explored how freedom is defended, tested and put into practice.

NIAS Director Antoine Buyse opened the evening with a call to reclaim civic space: to think creatively about what institutions like ours are for, and to make that purpose visible in society. He also posed a deliberately provocative question: who decided that scholarship always has to be useful?

Palestinian sociologist Sari Hanafi (American University of Beirut) set the tone with a keynote on academic freedom under political pressure and in increasingly illiberal contexts.

Writer and performer Fariborz Karimi then shifted the register, bringing a personal and artistic perspective to a conversation often framed in institutional terms.

The programme continued with our NIAS Theme Group Academic Freedom in Context, a panel bringing together Kimberly Wehle, Vicky Kosta and Tamar de Waal, all members of the NIAS thematic group to explore how academic freedom is shaped by law, institutions, politics and society – and why its meaning can never be reduced to a single definition.

Together, the contributions made for a rich and searching start to the academic year. Whether you joined us in Amsterdam or missed the event, our 25-minute film offers a chance to revisit its key moments, arguments and exchanges.