Author: giulia.groppazzi

T4EU INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE MARKING THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF SCHOLARS AT RISK AND THE CLOSING OF THE TRAVELLING EXHIBITION THE GARDEN OF THE (IN)VISIBLES

Students, researchers, and members of the public are warmly invited to attend the T4EU International Conference, Standing up for Higher Education in Times of Global Crises’, taking place on 9 December 2025 at 3:00 pm at the Gorizia campus (via Alviano 18, 34170 Gorizia).

The event marks the 25th anniversary of Scholars at Risk (SAR), the global network that defends academic freedom and protects scholars at risk. It forms part of SAR’s “Truth Matters” 2025–2026 celebrations, highlighting resilience, the right to research, critical thinking, and academic dialogue.

Organised within the framework of the European Transform4Europe (T4EU) alliance, the conference features two thematic sessions:

• Gaza: Challenges facing higher education, with talks by Omar Shweiki (Friends of Palestinian Universities) and Prof. Ahmed Abu Shaban (Al-Azhar University, Gaza).
• Sudan: Political and academic perspectives, featuring Prof. Munzoul Assal (University of Bergen), Irene Panozzo (political analyst), and Prof. Federico Donelli (University of Trieste).

The conference coincides with the closing of the travelling exhibition “The Garden of the (In)visibles”, part of WP7 – Common Heritage and Multilingualism. The exhibition presents objects left by migrants at the edges of cities or in forests, offering tangible traces of migration while exploring intangible themes such as identity, memory, and shared heritage.

Conference programme (summary):

• 15:00–15:30 – Institutional welcome, presentation of SAR and Free to Think Report 2025
• 15:30–17:00 – Session 1: Gaza
• 17:00–17:30 – Coffee break
• 17:30–19:00 – Session 2: Sudan

Participation options:

• In person: Aula Magna, Gorizia Campus, University of Trieste
• Online (streaming): Microsoft Teams (Meeting ID: 315 016 818 135 57 Passcode: f7rw3yR6)

Contact: t4eu.heritage@units.it

This is a unique opportunity to reflect on the importance of academic freedom, truth, and culture in times of global crises, bringing together academic engagement, human rights advocacy, and cultural reflection.

After its first stop at Saarland University (Germany), the travelling exhibition The Garden of the (In)visibles arrives in Gorizia, hosted in the library of the Gorizia campus of the University of Trieste.

The travelling exhibition, promoted within the Transform4Europe University Alliance as a Common Cultural Activity of Work Package 7 – Common Heritage & Multilingualism, was organised by the Department of Humanities of the University of Trieste (UniTS) in collaboration with the University of Primorska (UP).
The exhibition presents a selection of objects abandoned by migrants along the borders between Croatia, Slovenia, and Italy. These artefacts, collected by students and faculty from the two universities, are recontextualised as testimonies of memory, identity, and shared heritage, inviting reflection on the visible and invisible meanings of the migratory experience in Europe.

The opening will take place on Thursday, 27 November at 17:00, with interventions by:
– Prof. Roberta Altin, anthropologist and Rector’s Delegate for Development Cooperation, University of Trieste
– Prof. Katja Hrobat Virloget, anthropologist, University of Primorska
– Prof. Jure Gombač, anthropologist, Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ljubljana
– Dr Giuseppe Grimaldi, anthropologist, University of Trieste

Students from UniTS, UP, and Collegio Fonda will also participate. In particular, the Fonda for Others working group will be present to interview exhibition visitors, collecting impressions and reflections on the experience.

The Gorizia stop represents a significant moment in the project, as the exhibition returns to the border from which its journey began, presenting the migrants’ objects within a space that increasingly functions as a symbolic European border.