Lindsay Paterson, emeritus professor of education policy, School of Social and Political Science. 12 December 2022   Something ideologically peculiar is happening in the partisan arguments around the UK government’s Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill. This draft legislation would impose a statutory duty on English universities to guarantee freedom of speech for their staff […]

The recording of our recent seminar is now available here. Many thanks to colleagues in Information Services for their help in uploading the recording. Please note: this is an audio recording, with slides, using the University’s lecture capture facility.     Feminist educators have spent decades considering how to challenge gender stereotyping in schools, and […]

by Shereen Benjamin and Neil Thin   It is likely that all staff and students at Edinburgh hope for a social world in which people are not unfairly disadvantaged because of their sex or their transgender identification. If universities are to be spaces for constructive debate on contentious social issues such as sex and gender, […]

We’re delighted to announce that the long-postponed seminar on sex, gender and schools is now open for bookings. We look forward to welcoming you to the University of Edinburgh campus, whatever your views on the subject matter, or whether you’re just curious to learn more. Please use this Eventbrite link for bookings: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sex-gender-and-schools-tickets-326492898047 Feminist educators […]

By Jonathan Hearn   Academic freedom is about safeguarding the right to research, write, speak and teach on topics as one sees fit, without undue interference.  It is the matter of free speech as it applies to the context of universities and other teaching and research organisations.  The states of academic freedom and freedom of […]

Chances are most people reading this will be aware that one of the current flashpoints for academic freedom is the debate on sex, gender and gender identity. You’ve probably heard of Professor Kathleen Stock who was hounded out of her job at the University of Sussex, Professor Selina Todd who needed security guards to accompany […]

Blog by Neil Thin     In Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726), we are invited to imagine an absurdly polarised dispute about the culturally approved way of breaking open a boiled egg. The Big-Endians of Lilliput have ended up at war with the Little-Endians of Blefuscu over this seemingly intractable debate. It is a well-known […]

Edinburgh Academics for Academic Freedom will hold an inaugural discussion event on Tuesday April 26th 4.00-5.30 in the Laidlaw Room, Chrystal Macmillan Building. Come and join us to discuss academic freedom at the University of Edinburgh and beyond. What does academic freedom mean to you? What does it look like in practice? What are the […]

Steering Group Members 2023-2024   Dr Arianna Andreangeli, Senior Lecturer in European Law, Edinburgh Law School, University of Edinburgh Dr Shereen Benjamin, Senior Lecturer in Primary Education, Moray House School of Education and Sport, University of Edinburgh Mr Matthew Brown, Student, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh Professor Jonathan Hearn, Professor […]

We regard academic freedom – the duty of universities to ensure that their members can pursue whatever lines of enquiry they deem appropriate in their teaching, research and public engagement – as foundational in a democracy. In some parts of the world, academics face threats to their lives as well as their livelihoods for their […]