‘Freedom of the sciences’ and the international dimension of the European Research Area
Recent geopolitical shifts are disrupting the global science order, prompting the European Union to rethink its approach to external research cooperation. From Egypt’s participation in Horizon Europe to broader collaborations with the United States, the key question is how the EU can advance the international dimension of the European Research Area – its framework for the free movement of researchers, knowledge, and technology – while upholding the ‘freedom of the sciences’ guaranteed in Article 13 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Against a backdrop of academic freedom backsliding, increasing research securitization, and wider human rights challenges, this presentation analyses the EU’s approach to external research collaborations through the lens of Article 13 of the EU Charter.
The seminar was organized on November 27, 2025.
Olga Ceran is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Law and Philosophy (AFITE Project) at Leiden University in the Netherlands. Her work focuses on Article 13 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (‘freedom of the arts and sciences’) and comparative constitutional research on academic freedom. Olga holds a PhD in Law and an LLM in Comparative, European and International Laws from the European University Institute (Florence, Italy) as well as a Master’s degree in law from the University of Wrocław (Poland).
