ELTE Centre for Social Sciences, Institute for Political Science (1097 Budapest, Tóth Kálmán utca 4., Room T.2.37. Körtárgyaló)
from 9:30AM to 5:20PM
Format: Hybrid
Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88021302656?pwd=KeqNofO3AI7YerwdawphTfpw0eb5Qy.1
(Meeting ID: 880 2130 2656; Passcode: 533938)
The Budapest Academic Freedom Initiative (BAFI) holds its first project workshop on the 13th of October, 2026, at the premises of ELTE Centre for Social Sciences (ELTE CSS), Institute for Political Science . Aiming at establishing offline and online spaces for discussions on academic freedom, the project runs until spring 2028. It is supported by the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin—Institute for Advanced Study and funded by the VolkswagenStiftung and the Marga and Kurt Möllgaard-Stiftung. The first project workshop is entitled ‘Whose Academic Freedom Is It Anyway?’ and it has two underlying ambitions. On the one hand, it aims at discussing the current transformations of academic landscapes in different institutional settings and countries, including Albania, Georgia, Hungary, Montenegro and the Netherlands. On the other hand, the workshop will address normative and practical considerations in relation to institutional autonomies and individual academic freedoms, including constitutional rights, governance, funding and digitalization. A dedicated session will provide room for trade union and professional employee association views, whereas effects of redemocratization in post-April 2026 Hungary on academic autonomy and freedom will be contemplated in different institutional contexts.
The workshop will be held in a hybrid (offline/online) format and will be opened by ELTE CSS Director General Zsolt Boda, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin Head of Academic Programs Daniel Schönpflug (online) and Central European University Institute for Advanced Study Director Balázs Trencsényi (online – TBC). Workshop participants will represent a diverse set of academic institutions, including Cost Action CA22121 ‘Rising nationalisms, shifting geopolitics and the future of European higher education/research openness (OPEN)’. Closing words to the workshop will be delivered by ELTE CSS Research Professor and Member of the Constitutional Court of Hungary Nóra Chronowski and by Emeritus Professor of ELTE and the European University Institute in Florence Gábor Halmai.
BAFI grew out of ELTE CSS Senior Research Fellow Zoltán Ádám’s Elkana fellowship at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin in 2025/2026, who acts as the project’s academic coordinator. He will introduce the project and the accompanying Academic Freedom Blog (afblog.eu) for the first time on the 13th of October. Contact: adam.zoltan@tk.elte.hu
Detailed program
9:30–9:45 Opening words
Zsolt Boda, Director General, ELTE Centre for Social Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
Daniel Schönpflug, Head of Academic Programs, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin, Germany (online)
Balázs Trencsényi, Professor, Central European University, Vienna, Austria & Director, CEU Institute for Advanced Study, Budapest, Hungary (online) – TBC
9:45–9:55 Introducing the Budapest Academic Freedom Initiative (BAFI) and the Academic Freedom Blog (afblog.eu)
Zoltán Ádám, Senior Research Fellow, ELTE CSS Institute for Political Science & Academic Coordinator, BAFI, Budapest, Hungary
9:55–11:00 Academic freedom as a contested liberty: Country cases 1
Marlies Glasius, Professor of International Relations, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands (online): The case of the Netherlands
Miklós Rosta, Associate Professor, Corvinus University of Budapest, Institute of Economics, Hungary: The case of Hungary with particular reference to Corvinus University of Budapest
Keti Tsotniashvili, Associate Professor of Education Policy, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia: The case of Georgia
11:00–11:15 Coffee break
11:15–12:20 Academic freedom as a contested liberty: Country cases 2
Balázs Majtényi, Professor, ELTE Faculty of Social Sciences, Budapest, Hungary: The case of Hungary with particular reference to ELTE University
Vladimir Vuckovic, Assistant Professor, Masaryk University, Department of International Relations and European Studies, Brno, Czechia: The case of Montengro
Reina Zenelaj, Head of Department of Political Science and International Relations, Epoka University, Tirana, Albania: The case of Albania
12:20–13:35 Lunch
13:35–14:40 Fighting for academic freedom and autonomy: The perspective of trade unions and professional organizations
Márton Gerő, Vice President, Democratic Union of Science Workers, Budapest, Hungary; Senior Research Fellow, CSS Institute for Sociology & Assistant Professor, ELTE Faculty of Social Sciences, Budapest, Hungary: The case of Hungarian research institutes from a trade union perspective
Viktor Lőrincz, President, Hungarian Academy Staff Forum & Junior Research Fellow, CSS Institute for Legal Studies, Budapest, Hungary: The Hungarian academic sector from a professional employee association perspective
Gábor Toronyai, Head of the Corvinus University of Budapest Chapter of the Trade Union of Higher Education Employees & Associate Professor, Institute of Social and Political Science, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary: Academic freedom and autonomy amidst transformations at Corvinus University of Budapest from a trade union perspective
14:40–15:45 Fighting for academic freedom and autonomy: The governance of academic institutions
Judit Gárdos, Head of the Research Documentation Centre, ELTE CSS and Deputy Head of CSS Chapter, Democratic Union of Science Workers, Budapest, Hungary & Elkana fellow, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin, Germany (online): Institutionalized power relations in Hungarian academia
Gergely Kováts, Head of the Centre for International Higher Education Studies & Associate Professor,Institute of Strategy and Management, Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary: Freedom and autonomy in Hungarian academia before and after April 2026
Andrew Ryder, Head of Institute of Political and International Studies & Professor, ELTE Faculty of Social Sciences, Budapest, Hungary: Neo-liberalized academia? Problems of funding and rankings
15:45–16:00 Coffee break
16:00–17:05 Whose Academic Freedom Is It Anyway? Some normative and practical considerations
Kriszta Kovács, Head of Department of Human Rights and Politics – Unesco Chair, ELTE Faculty of Social Sciences, Budapest, Hungary & Visiting Researcher, WZB Global Constitutionalism Professorship, Berlin, Germany: Some normative questions of academic freedom
Michele Martini, Lecturer in Sociology of Digital Education, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy: Effects and dilemmas of digitalization
László Upor, Former Associate Professor & elected (but never installed) Rector in 2020, currently Member of the Board of Trustees, University of Theatre and Film Arts, Budapest, Hungary: Can we reclaim what we had lost before?
17:05–17:20 Closing words
Nóra Chronowski, Member of the Constitutional Court of Hungary & Research Professor, ELTE CSS Institute for Legal Studies, Budapest, Hungary
Gábor Halmai, Emeritus Professor, ELTE Faculty of Social Sciences, Budapest, Hungary and European University Institute, Florence, Italy & Adjunct Professor, LUISS Guido Carli University, Rome, Italy
Zoltán Ádám, Senior Research Fellow, ELTE CSS Institute for Political Science & Academic Coordinator, BAFI, Budapest, Hungary