The SCIENCE AT RISK Emergency Office – founded by the Academic Network Eastern Europe (akno e.V.) and funded by the German Federal Foreign Office – together with the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, cordially invites you to a presentation of the SCIENCE AT RISK Monitoring Report followed by a panel discussion:

Academic Freedom in Belarus: Continuity and Change in a Restrictive Environment

Monday, November 2, 2026, 7:00 p.m.

at Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung e.V., Schumannstraße 8, 10117 Berlin

Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Registration here: https://airtable.com/appYVkVmHtn9BimgW/pagoS2l4NVgv82nhd/form

Six years after the mass protests of 2020, the space for independent academic life in Belarus has been fundamentally eroded. Universities have become ever more deeply embedded in a system of state control, ideological conformity, and surveillance. Belarusian curricula and academic structures are increasingly aligned with those of Russia. Scholars and students forced into exile face intimidation, surveillance, and other forms of transnational repression. Yet, the Belarusian democratic opposition continues to build alternative educational structures abroad.

The event will present the key findings of the SCIENCE AT RISK Monitoring Report 2026, Academic Freedom in Belarus: Continuity and Change in a Restrictive Environment. The subsequent panel discussion will examine how these changes are reshaping Belarusian education and academia, what they mean for researchers inside the country and in exile, and how the erosion of academic freedom connects to wider questions of Belarus’s future and its role in Europe.

Welcome:

Robert Sperfeld, Senior Programme Officer in the East and South East Europe Division of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung

Philipp Christoph Schmädeke, Director, SCIENCE AT RISK Emergency Office

Presentation of the SCIENCE AT RISK Monitoring Report Academic Freedom in Belarus: Continuity and Change in a Restrictive Environment

The event will feature a panel discussion with experts: “What are the implications of transnational repression against the Belarusian academic community in exile, and what role should European actors play?”

The event will be held in English. Please register here. You will receive a confirmation email with further details.

We look forward to welcoming you and to an insightful discussion.