Safeguarding the right to science through academic freedom: a human rights-based and action-oriented framework for Europe

Abstract

Across Europe, academic freedom is increasingly affected by political pressures, governance challenges and structural inequalities that undermine the institutional conditions necessary for independent scientific research. These have direct implications for the effective realisation of the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications under Article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Academic freedom – including freedom of research, institutional autonomy, protection of scientific integrity and equitable access to scientific benefits – has been recognised as a core condition for the effective realisation of this right.

Within the European Union (EU), these standards are supported by legal and policy frameworks, including Article 13 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Research Area policies. However, the EU action in this field operates largely through coordination, monitoring and incentive-based governance rather than direct harmonisation. As a result, the effectiveness of academic freedom protection depends not only on formal legal recognition, but also on how consistently existing standards are implemented across research governance, rule-of-law monitoring and national institutional practice.

Monitoring evidence shows that the protection of academic freedom and the right to science remains uneven across member states despite shared legal commitments. Political interference in university governance, structural weaknesses in research systems, unequal access to scientific careers and digitally mediated forms of harassment increasingly undermine the institutional conditions necessary for independent research. Evidence from Hungary, Poland, Greece and France illustrates how these pressures can erode institutional autonomy, constrain research capacity and limit participation in scientific knowledge production.

This policy brief examines these developments and outlines two policy options: (1) a targeted, governance-focused approach centred on strengthening national safeguards for institutional autonomy and governance within existing frameworks; (2) a comprehensive rights-based EU strategy integrating monitoring, institutional protection and coordinated policy responses. The latter approach can address the systemic, cross-border and structural nature of current challenges and ensure the effective realisation of the right to science across Europe.