Considering the 2023 Academic Freedom Index (AFi) results, which point to the deterioration of academic freedom worldwide and in the Americas, the Coalition for Academic Freedom in the Americas (CAFA) and the Latin American Social Science Council (CLACSO) are promoting a scholarship initiative to strengthen comparative research and critical thinking within the framework of academic freedom in the Americas.

Through this initiative, CAFA and CLACSO hope to help transform the Inter-American Principles on Academic Freedom and University Autonomy from aspirational ideals into tangible realities. Interdisciplinary collaboration and sustained research initiatives can pave the way for a more vibrant and resilient academic community in the Americas, where academic freedom thrives as an essential pillar of democratic societies.

Considering the regional and global context, five lines of inquiry were proposed for this research initiative: academic freedom and the pursuit of democracy; academic freedom and the strengthening of science and knowledge; the relationship between academic freedom and technologies; university autonomy; and overcoming structural inequalities.

This space has been created to monitor the progress and results of these activities.