The T4EU International Conference titled "Standing up for Higher Education in Times of Global Crises" will take place on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, in the main hall (Aula Magna) of the University of Trieste's Gorizia campus (via Alviano 18), starting at 3:00 PM.

The event, promoted within the framework of the European Alliance T4EU (Transform4Europe), assumes particular importance as it celebrates the 25th anniversary of Scholars at Risk (SAR), the global network that defends academic freedom and protects scholars under threat, and is part of SAR's "Truth Matters" celebrations for the 2025-2026 year.

As an international network of universities committed to defending academic freedom and the fundamental rights of endangered scholars, over the course of 25 years, SAR has built a strong global movement, promoting protection programs, academic exchanges, and advocacy. The choice of the "Truth Matters" theme highlights the importance of truth, knowledge, and the resilience of higher education in the face of political crises, conflicts, and repression.

The conference will be structured into two thematic sessions: the first will focus on the higher education crisis in the Gaza Strip, and the second on the situation in Sudan.

Program:
Institutional Greetings, Presentation of the SAR Program and the Free to Think Report 2025 by Prof. Elisabetta De Giorgi, Delegate for Mobility and International Relations, and Prof. Roberta Altin, Delegate for Development Cooperation of the University of Trieste.
 

Session 1: Gaza
Prof. Diego Abenante (History and Institutions of Asia) and Prof. Giulia Caccamo (History of International Relations) from the University of Trieste will chair the session, which will host presentations by Omar Shweiki, Director of Friends of Palestinian Universities, and Prof. Ahmed Abu Shaban, Professor at Al-Azhar University of Gaza and member of the Gaza Universities Emergency Committee.

Session 2: Sudan 
Moderated by Prof. Federico Battera (Afro-Asian Political Systems, University of Trieste), the session will foster a dialogue between Prof. Munzoul Assal, Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen, Irene Panozzo, political analyst specializing in African and Middle Eastern historical and political events, and Prof. Federico Donelli, Professor of International Relations at the University of Trieste.

The conference is open to students, researchers, and the public, and will be live-streamed with Microsoft Teams (Meeting ID: 315 016 818 135 57; Passcode: f7rw3yR6).

The T4EU International Conference also represents the closing event for the exhibition "The Garden of the (In)visibles", an initiative within the Common Cultural Activity of WP7 - Common Heritage and Multilingualism of the T4EU Alliance. The exhibition, set up in the Library of the Gorizia campus, presents objects left by migrants at the edges of cities or in the woods as tangible traces representative of intangible concepts such as migration, identity, and shared memory. Entrusting the closing of the exhibition to the conference strengthens the link between academic commitment, the protection of rights, and cultural reflection on what is visible or invisible in our society.

Contacts: t4eu.heritage@units.it