Dr. Aslı Vatansever speaks on contemporary academic labor movements for the European International Studies Association (EISA)

Dr. Aslı Vatansever, researcher and Director of Development and Philanthropy at Bard College Berlin, will speak at an online EISA panel on November 19, 2025 on the dynamics and characteristics of contemporary academic labor movements, with a focus on Germany. She will explore how scholars navigate precarious working conditions, inequalities, and forms of solidarity and resistance in contemporary university.

This online panel, titled "Solidarity Across Uneven Terrains: Practicing Care and Resistance within Neoliberal Academia" and hosted by the European International Studies Association (EISA), brings together scholars at different career stages from around the world to reflect on the challenges of working within an increasingly precarious and unequal academic landscape. Amid shrinking budgets, short-term contracts, and the growing influence of performance metrics and generative AI, the conversation asks how colonial legacies, gendered divisions of labor, and class inequalities intersect to shape the everyday realities of scholarly life.

Panelists will discuss how scholars are already enacting forms of solidarity, care, and resistance within the neoliberal university—and what can be learned from these practices, especially for early-career researchers in International Relations. The event will also consider whether meaningful change can occur from within existing institutional structures, or whether the neoliberal university must be fundamentally reimagined to achieve a more just and inclusive academia.

View more about the event here.

Post Date: 11-18-2025