24.06.2026 • 1 Std. 3 Min.

The global rise of right-wing populism, the spread of authoritarian governments and practices, and related developments such as the marketization of knowledge and the proliferation of hate speech are profoundly reshaping the conditions under which research and knowledge production take place. Academic freedom is in decline worldwide. And the threats it faces do not vanish when scholars move from one context to another; they simply assume new forms. How do scholars navigate these shrinking spaces of inquiry? What strategies and mechanisms do they develop in order to continue their work? How can people, structures, and ideas that often must remain hidden be made visible? And what responsibilities do universities and science policy actors bear in confronting the growing constraints on academic freedom?In this special episode, anthropologist and curator Rosa Castillo explores these questions with Professor Andrea Fleschenberg dos Ramos Pinéu and art director Aldo Spahiu through the lens of Hidden Research—an ongoing theatre and research project on academic freedom. Originally conceived as a time-limited initiative within Germany’s Science Year 2024, the project has since grown into a sustained engagement with the increasingly urgent realities of academic freedom and scholarship at risk. Hidden Research gives theatrical expression to the lived experiences of exiled and endangered scholars, illuminating the deeply personal and profoundly political challenges they face in their pursuit of knowledge and academic practice. Much of the spoken text of the performances is drawn directly from conversations with these scholars and carefully transformed for the stage.Hidden Research is coordinated by the Berlin Center for Global Engagement, the project co2libri – Conceptual Collaboration: Living Borderless Research Interaction, and the art director Aldo Sphahiu.Prof. Andrea Fleschenberg dos Ramos Pinéu, Institute of Asian and African Studies, Transregional Southeast Asian Studies, Humboldt University Berlin; co2libriAldo Spahiu, Theatre Director, Actor, ClownProf. Rosa Castillo, Academic Associate, Institute of Social and Health Sciences, University of South Africa, Former Guest Professor of Anthropology, Freie Universität Berlin, co2libri