If you wish to have a virtual event announcement posted, please send an email to ssspgra@utk.edu. Please include a URL for more information, if available.

There is no charge to place an announcement on this website. Announcements for virtual events will be posted until the submission deadline or until the date of the conference has passed.   

Past SSSP Virtual Events

The Current State of Academic Freedom

4 December 2024 at 9am EST

Scholars at Risk (SAR), in collaboration with the International Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU), invites you to attend "The Current State of Academic Freedom," a webinar discussing the challenges facing higher education institutions and academics in Europe.

This one-hour session will highlight how the SAR Network is working to protect at-risk scholars and the freedom to think, question, and share ideas in Europe. SAR staff will discuss key trends from SAR's Free to Think 2024 report and how institutions can get involved.

This webinar will feature the following speakers:

  • Phoebe Alpern,  a Program Associate for Membership and University Relations at Scholars at Risk. She is the coordinator of SAR's International Advisory Committee and manages programming for SAR's European network of over 400 educational institutions.
  • Amy Kapit, a Senior Program Officer for Advocacy, where she leads work on the Free to Think report series and the Academic Freedom Monitoring Project, tracking attacks on higher education communities.

Learn more and register.

The Current State of Academic Freedom

Scholars at Risk (SAR), in collaboration with the International Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU), invites you to attend "The Current State of Academic Freedom," a series of webinars discussing the challenges facing higher education institutions and academics across the world.

These one-hour sessions will highlight how the SAR Network is working to protect at-risk scholars and the freedom to think, question, and share ideas. SAR staff will discuss key trends from SAR's Free to Think 2024 report and how institutions can get involved. Each webinar will be regionally focused and scheduled for the following dates and times:

Webinar dates:

Supporting displaced Ukrainian researchers and the role of host institutions

On 8 October, the European University Association (EUA) hosted a MSCA4Ukraine webinar titled ‘Supporting displaced Ukrainian researchers: the role of host institutions.’

The session was moderated by Henriette Stoeber, EUA Policy Analyst, and included six speakers from three institutions: Masaryk University (Czech Republic), University of Tartu (Estonia), and MSCA4Ukraine (Scholars at Risk Europe).

As hosts to MSCA4Ukraine fellows, Masaryk University and the University of Tartu shared how they have welcomed researchers from Ukraine, allowing them to continue their research and further their careers while maintaining their connections to their home institutions. The universities described the additional steps they are taking to enhance collaboration with the Ukrainian higher education sector and overcome challenges along the way. All presentations from the webinar may be found here: Supporting displaced Ukrainian researchers: the role of host institutions, and a full recording is available as well. Highlights of the event have also been published here.

For information regarding future EUA events, please visit: Events.

White Anti-Racist Sociologist Resources

We are a group of white anti-racist sociologists interested in accountability, solidarity, and critical praxis. Each of us has witnessed ongoing institutionalized forms of racial oppression within sociological settings. We began discussions about how to reflect and root out internalized and unconscious racism within ourselves and take action in solidarity with others’ accountability work in response to intentional and unintentional racism and white supremacy. 

We invite other white scholars interested in this work to join us. 

Our hope is to hold a series of virtual meetings to share challenges we have experienced or witnessed and mistakes we have made, with the aim of discussing how we addressed these situations, how we wish we would have addressed them, and to share insight with each other on how we could address similar situations in the future. We will incorporate somatic approaches to understanding our emotions and felt experiences in these situations, and develop tools to identify and manage the felt experiences of white supremacy. We envision a combination of reading work that explores these concepts for discussion, along with group practice. And, as we develop these skills and a network of anti-racist white sociologists across institutional settings, we hope to work together and in solidarity with other collectives to make institutionalized change across universities and professional organizations. 

The vision for what we become will evolve as our collective needs shift, and as we respond to the social conditions around us. We are open to hearing from other anti-racist sociologists as to what additional activities and actions we can collectively engage in.

You can read more about our commitments and values, as well as a resource list we are developing here, and copied below: 

Please note that you must be logged into a gmail account. Select “Ask to Join Group”. This will add you to the listserv and you will receive emails regarding organizing and attending sessions, as well as a space to put out calls for support and mentoring around responses to racism at any level. 

We are planning to gather in December to discuss our strategies and next steps in the face of ongoing and dangerous white supremacy. 

If you have any questions you can email us.