Higher education has always had a role in engaging with society’s ‘wicked issues’, with academics consciously engaging with or being drawn into politically-charged discussions about a wide variety of issues including climate change, human rights, migration, nationalism, conflict and war-torn societies, medical ethics, resource scarcity, or economic issues (both global and country-specific).  The borderland between activism and dialogue is, however, a contested one and gives rise to a number of concerns.

The rise of post-truthism and the erosion of longstanding epistemic structures, for example, are potentially shifting the role that higher education plays in society, particularly with growing pressure on academics to have research ‘impact’ at a time of public contestation of expertise.  Universities are being pressed to play ever-increasing roles in addressing societal concerns, but are also challenged by the line between social critique, dissent and insubordination.  And while universities are being ‘opened up’, and efforts made to decolonise curricula, this has surfaced issues surrounding academic freedom and freedom of speech on university campuses, including the erosion of secure conditions for academic autonomy. At the same time, we have entered a period where various forms of activism and resistance have become mainstreamed internationally and across the political and social spectrum; movements in which many staff and students in higher education have been involved, either individually or collectively.

This year’s conference seeks to explore the ways in which staff and students are, and have historically been, involved in various forms of activism and ask questions about the future roles that higher education – and the people in it – might take.