Understanding Academic Freedom and Intellectual Property in the UK
Academic Freedom, its meaning, purpose and future, is currently a hot topic in the press and the educational establishments in the UK, in particular in the current environment with the Higher Education (Free Speech) Bill being considered in parliament and the house of lords. Despite this it is not an area that research students and early career researchers are given specific training on. In fact, recent staff surveys by educational unions have proven that staff have little understanding of their rights when it comes to academic freedom, a problem further confounded by the lack of training of PhD students in this area.
This session intends to raise awareness of the history of academic freedom, the different definitions that are both legal and de facto (rights in practice but not in statue). It will be a chance to participate and consider the current complex debates on academic freedom and the current legislative changes being considered in the UK. This training session will also provide a chance to discuss and debate and help researchers to develop their own opinions and stances on these important issues in what will be their future workplaces in higher education.
The session will address at the history of academic freedom today, how the meaning of the term has changed and evolved over time from 1970 until the present day. It will allow time for reflecting on what this means for you as academic as part of an academic community. The session will cover the conditions that led up to the UK having a formal legal definition of Academic Freedom under the 1988 Education Reform Act and how this has coincided with the marketisation of the UK education system. It will consider the relationship between academic freedom and human rights, including free speech. It will consider the de facto definitions of academic freedom that are held by different groups, and how academic freedom for students and staff are held in different regard. This will also consider some of the differences between academic freedom in the UK compared to other countries.
This discursive session will look at current legal developments in the UK (including the current Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill going through parliament) and some of the more controversial debates around academic freedom. It will introduce some of the debates around safe spaces (inside and outside the classroom), cancel culture, no-platforming and debates around academic freedom and the Prevent Legislation and its opposition by trade unions and students’ unions in the UK.
An area often unconsidered when it comes to academic freedom is how it is interconnected for research students and early career researchers working on projects where they may sit in a grey area where it comes to the intellectual property of their own work. Here, rights vary between institutions and different funded project. This session will cover what intellectual property means, how to understand your rights, including opening up debates around open access publishing.
Knowledge development around academic freedom and the law
A chance to reflect and debate current issues around academic freedom
Networking and group development of the understanding of the current conflicts and debates in the current system
An understanding of intellectual property and related academic freedom rights for PhD students and early career researchers in the current systems