We would like to kindly invite you to the SAIH Conference 2025 with the theme ‘Universities as Sites of Resistance and Social Justice’. In collaboration with the University of Oslo, this conference will take place on Thursday 24 April at Georg Sverdrups hus Aud 1.
This conference aims to create a vital space for dialogue, strategy, and collaboration among students, academics, civil society, and decision-makers at the intersection of academia and activism in Norway and beyond. We will examine the role of academia in defending democratic values, fostering international solidarity and shaping a more just and equitable future.
Amongst others, we will hear from the Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in Critical Pedagogy, Henry A. Giroux, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Farida Shaheed, and Professor of Sociology at Wits University, Johannesburg, Srila Roy. More information on the program and speakers can be found on our website.
In order to be considered for inclusion in the program, please indicate clearly the number and title of the panel that you wish to contribute to.
We are also aiming to accommodate a limited number of panels for paper submissions that do not fit under the themes of the open panels listed below. If your paper does not fit with in a pre-identified panel, please label your submission with “Undefined Panel”.
The list for Open Panels can be found by clicking the link bellow:
We are calling for paper abstracts to the Open Panel Sessions listed below. Submissions of abstracts of no more than 250 words can be sent to conference-nordev25@nmbu.no.
Deadline: Friday, April 4th.
In order to be considered for inclusion in the program, please indicate clearly the number and title of the panel that you wish to contribute to.
We are also aiming to accommodate a limited number of panels for paper submissions that do not fit under the themes of the open panels listed below. If your paper does not fit withing a pre-identified panel, please label your submission with “Undefined Panel”.
Growing inequalities, geopolitical instabilities, political polarization, new and protracted conflicts, anti-democratic and nationalistic tendencies and environmental and social injustices linked to unsustainable development trajectories and the “green transition” within and beyond the Nordic countries and Europe threaten to undermine academic and civic freedoms, human rights and development gains and efforts worldwide. The need for collaborative efforts, and critical thinking on “the global development project” and the root causes and solutions to the interlinked sustainability challenges of our times has never been greater. Yet while Nordic universities and development research environments have traditionally played a key role in championing global perspectives, and pursuing collaborative, internationally oriented research and teaching approaches, these activities are under increasing threat. Reforms in academic funding models (leading inter alia to the introduction of study fees for international students in Norway last year), changing geopolitical realities, and new and changing development assistance priorities and modalities are undermining the “global classroom” and weakening possibilities for international collaboration and solidarity. There is an urgent need in this changing context for enhanced Nordic cooperation and rethinking of the roles, responsibilities and possibilities for Nordic development research environments to foster and support inclusive and just transitions to sustainability both at home and abroad. The role of Nordic universities in contributing to inclusive and safe spaces for cross-cultural dialogue and fostering academic-civic solidarity and long-term institution building and reconstruction in the context of increasing geopolitical instabilities, war and protracted conflicts are also important and urgent topics.
