Webinar: Academic Freedom in Iran: How Ideology can Affect Science

Join us for an eye-opening event that sheds light on the enduring struggle for academic freedom in Iran since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979. Delve into the tumultuous history of the cultural revolution in the early 1980s, which started with the closure of universities and the expulsion of countless faculty members and students and lasted for three years. Against all the pressure and oppressive measures that the state has imposed on universities, Iranian university students have persistently fought against tyranny and have been the vanguards of socio-political resistance for over four decades. We all have witnessed their courageous efforts, exemplified by their early protests following the tragic murder of Zhina-Mahsa Amini in September 2022. The totalitarian Islamic republic responded to these peaceful demonstrations and campus strikes with brutal suppression, arrest, persecution, and dismissal from universities. Register here for this free online event: https://rb.gy/6i971

This exclusive event brings together a distinguished panel of experts who will provide first-hand accounts, offering valuable insights into the mechanisms behind this enduring oppression and its profound impact on science and higher education in Iran. Through their personal experiences as scholars, our panellists will illuminate the dire state of academia under suppression and the grave consequences of the lack of academic freedom in Iran. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by Iranian scholars and the resilience they display in the face of adversity.

Panellists

Sina Entesari is a journalist and human rights activist from Iran. He worked for nearly twelve years in the field of Sufi rights violations in Iran. These activities led to two years of imprisonment and two years of exile in one of the remote parts of Iran. Now he is a master’s student in Paris.

Azadeh Ganjeh is a Doc. phil in Theatre studies, Playwright, Dramaturge, Performance Artist, and Theatre Director. After receiving her BA in Civil Engineering, she earned a Theater directing M.A degree from Tehran Art University and Graduated as a Dr. in philosophy-theatre studies from Bern University. She is an academic and researcher in exile since 2022. She left Iran while she was an Assistant Professor at the School of Performing Arts-University of Tehran. Since April 2022 she received a fellowship from the Philipp Schwartz initiative and is affiliated with The University of Hildesheim, Institut für Medien, Theater und Populäre Kultur.

Farshid Nowrouzi Roshnavand is a postdoctoral fellow at Université Paris-Est Créteil. His research interests include disability studies and comparative studies. He was formerly an assistant professor of English Literature and the vice dean for educational affairs in the Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages at the University of Mazandaran, Iran. After he showed support for protesting students during the Woman, Life, Freedom revolution, he lost his job and had to leave Iran to avoid further pressures. He currently lives in Paris, France.

Negar Partow is a senior lecturer at the Centre for Defence and Security Studies in Massey University. Negar’s research focuses on the dynamics of religion and politics and its impact on national and regional security. She teaches on human security and philosophies of security and is a Middle East regional expert. Negar has published on human security and the United Nations, civil rights and religio-political states. She is a regular media commentator on topics related to human rights and the Middle East security environment.

Moderator

Encieh Erfani was an Assistant Professor of the Physics Department at the IASBS, Iran since Dec. 2015. She resigned in September 2022 in support of protests in Iran and is now an exiled scientist. She obtained her Ph.D. degree from Bonn University, Germany in 2012. Her research area is Theoretical Physics and in particular Cosmology. She is an ISC Fellow, an Advisory Board of the IAP, a Junior Associate of the ICTP, Italy, a TWAS Young Affiliate member, and a member of the Global Young Academy.

Watch the event recording here: