Emily Allegra Dreyfus

Academia is a sensitive business. From communicating about subjects from genocide to political inclusion and medical ethics, the efficacy with which researchers and institutes of higher education reach a broader public depends on their ability to speak with integrity and empathy. In short, the university is obliged to foster an attitude of sensitivity: an attunement to those discourses of the past that have shaped our views of the present, and a receptivity to modes of thought that lie ahead. This task comes with its own challenges. As demonstrated at last year’s conference Forum Wissenschaftskommunikation 2024, if academic communication is to champion democratic values and open societies, it must address our present-day geopolitical crisis of “(post)-facticity” and defend intellectual freedoms while resisting political instrumentalization.