1) How did you determine the focus of your research, and how does it relate to the challenges that you consider to be the most important for advancing academic freedom as a fundamental human right?

Participating in this call is a strategic opportunity to integrate our work into a Latin American network that documents threats to academic freedom and actively develops collective responses from situated, critical perspectives. CAFA and CLACSO are essential platforms for raising awareness of the challenges faced by students, faculty, and researchers in environments where university autonomy is compromised and the creation of critical knowledge is hindered or censored.

In a country like Peru, where state repression, criminalization of dissent, and ideological pressures have weakened the transformative role of the university, this call enables us to connect with other regional experiences that face similar challenges. Through this coordination, we aim to highlight local forms of exclusion and resistance and en-rich our analytical and action tools by engaging in dialogue with teams from other countries.

Furthermore, we believe that strengthening networks such as CAFA and CLACSO is essential to increasing the protection and legitimacy of those who advocate for a democratic, pluralistic university committed to social justice. Thus, participating in this initiative is an academic, political, and epistemological commitment: we position our-selves with and from the epistemologies of the South to imagine and build other possible forms of academic freedom.

2) What impact do you think your research will have on academic freedom in the short and long term?

This research aims to promote a more rigorous understanding of the risks currently facing academic freedom and scientific development in Brazil and Argentina, in both the short and long term. This understanding is essential for formulating strategies to strengthen these freedoms, which are crucial for critical thinking and consolidating scientific knowledge. These freedoms are fundamental to any substantive democracy in Latin America.

In the short term, we aim to propose concrete guidelines and recommendations for action, such as incremental adjustments to university and research center institutional frameworks. In the long term, we will promote proposals for structural changes to scientific funding policies. Strate-gic actors, such as universities, civil society organizations, social movements, and political actors committed to democratic values, may adopt these measures in defense of scientific integrity and the right to academic freedom.

3) What is the importance of taking part in this call for research proposals that is being promoted by CAFA and CLACSO?

Participation in this research call promoted by CAFA and CLACSO is strategically important as it occurs in a regional and international context marked by mounting challenges to academic freedom and scientific development. Our own research indicates that Latin America currently faces institutional weaknesses associated with democratic erosion. This phenomenon is not limi-ted to Brazil and Argentina, but also affects other countries in the region, including the United States, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. 

In this context, initiatives like this call for proposals are crucial as they provide visibility and opportunities for democratic resistance. These initiatives offer spaces for producing critical knowledge that is autonomous and committed to equity, social justice, and academic freedom. It is essential to recognize the link between academic freedom and democratic quality since teaching and scientific research sustain the social, political, and economic development of our societies and guarantee plurality of voices and critical thinking. These are indispensable conditions for strengthening any democratic regime.