In Autumn 2015, University of Helsinki Global South (HUGS) network and partners organised Scholars at Risk Speaker Series at the Think Corner Porthania, University of Helsinki. The four discussion events touched upon the issues of academic freedom, artists’ freedom of expression and human rights from different perspectives.
In the first discussion event “Academic freedom and human rights threatened” (September 15), threats towards, and restrictions to academic freedom and their connections with the status of human rights were discussed in the contexts of Iran and Finland, as well as globally. The participants included: Dr. Mehrdad Alipour (Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study), Kristiina Kouros as the chair (Human Rights Centre), Prof. Heikki Patomäki (University of Helsinki), Vice Rector Anna Mauranen (University of Helsinki) and Prof. Laura Kolbe (University of Helsinki). The video record of the discussion is available in Unitube (within University of Helsinki) at:
https://www.helsinki.fi/fi/unitube/video/9934cca2-d081-4ecb-ad61-e325b4b7ee72
and at Webcast (public):
https://webcast.helsinki.fi/engage/ui/watch.html?id=9934cca2-d081-4ecb-ad61-e325b4b7ee72
In the second discussion event “Human rights discourse in different cultural contexts” (13 October), the relationships between human rights, academic institutions, other fields of society and social groups were discussed by Päivi Mattila (The Finnish League for Human Rights), Reetta Toivanen (University of Helsinki), and Syksy Räsänen (University of Helsinki & ICAHD Finland). The event was chaired by Jukka Kekkonen (University of Helsinki & The International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies). The video record of the discussion is available in Unitube (within University of Helsinki) at:
https://www.helsinki.fi/fi/unitube/video/0bfa5e3e-a116-4e31-b90d-04fbc110451e
and at Webcast (public):
https://webcast.helsinki.fi/engage/ui/watch.html?id=0bfa5e3e-a116-4e31-b90d-04fbc110451e
The the third discussion event was titled “Freedom of Expression in Arts, Culture and Journalism” (November 10). The speakers included Lea Kantonen (Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies), Eleni Tsitsirikou (HIAP), Oksana Tselyseva (Writer/Journalist, Russia) and Diis Abdi Guadhi (Film-maker/Documentarist, Kenya). Iida Simes (Finnish PEN) chaired the discussion.
The video record of the discussion is available in Unitube (within University of Helsinki) at:
https://www.helsinki.fi/fi/unitube/video/806c4606-e472-4d86-a0b5-e9cfb5557fcb
and at Webcast (public):
https://webcast.helsinki.fi/engage/ui/watch.html?id=806c4606-e472-4d86-a0b5-e9cfb5557fcb
The fourth discussion event “Research Ethics and Challenging Field Work” (December 8) addressed security challenges that researchers face while conducting their field work in difficult circumstances, and the role of human rights and research ethics in framing and conducting research. These issues and beyond were discussed by Sanna Kaisa Spoof (Finnish Advisory Board on Research Integrity), Marja Tiilikainen (University of Helsinki), and Irina Piippo (University of Helsinki). The event was chaired by Ulla Anttila (KIOS).