On 28 November 2025, UNU will host “Academic Freedom and International Collaboration in a Changing World”, a conversation with Daniel Jutras, Rector of the Université de Montréal, Canada. This event will start at 18:30 in the 2F Reception Hall at UNU Headquarters in Tokyo.
In today’s shifting geopolitical landscape, the social role of universities has taken on renewed importance. Academic freedom and international collaboration — long regarded as cornerstones of modern progress — are increasingly strained by national security anxieties and the fragmentation of trust across borders. As partnerships shift and new global divides emerge, universities find themselves at a crossroads, navigating the tension between the normative ideal of scientific openness and the strategic priorities of the state.
While universities have long contributed to national, societal and state interests, the research environment in which they do so has changed. Knowledge today is produced within systems that are inherently interdependent, where ideas, data and talent circulate across borders as part of discovery itself. Shaping or limiting the freedom to collaborate and circulate is not simply a matter of policy; it alters the very conditions under which knowledge is created and shared. It is a challenge that universities must now engage with deliberately, carefully and with a clear sense of what is at stake.
Maintaining this capacity is essential, for many of the challenges we face today are global in scope and demand forms of knowledge and cooperation that no institution or nation can achieve alone.
Rector Daniel Jutras will join UNU Rector Tshilidzi Marwala for a discussion on the social role of universities in the face of today’s geopolitical challenges. How do universities respond to political limitations on academic freedoms? How do universities rethink their international partnerships? How do technological advancements, including AI, change the role of universities? How can universities uphold their commitment to knowledge as a public good, even as geopolitical priorities influence the terms of collaboration?
The UNU Conversation Series aims to foster audience participation. You are encouraged to engage with the speakers during the conversation and at the reception that will follow, where all event attendees are invited to enjoy hors d’oeuvres and drinks while exchanging ideas and making new contacts.
Please note that this event will be in English. Advance registration (by 27 November at 15:00) is required. Please click on the REGISTER button above to access the online registration page. Please be prepared to present identification at check-in.
UNU@50
This event is part of the UNU 50th anniversary celebration. To learn more, visit: https://unu.edu/unuat50
About the Speaker
Daniel Jutras has served as the Rector of the Université de Montréal in Canada since 1 June 2020. A specialist in civil and comparative law, he holds law degrees from Université de Montréal and Harvard University. He is internationally recognized for his expertise in contract law and civil liability, class actions and judicial institutions. He is also a member of numerous boards of directors in the university sphere, as well as in civil society organizations such as the University of Montreal Health Centre and the U7+ Alliance of World Universities. Since September 2025, he acts as Chair of the Board of U15 Canada, an association of fifteen leading research universities across Canada.
In addition to his academic activities, Daniel Jutras has contributed to Canadian public and political life as an ethics consultant to the Canadian Judicial Council and a member of both the independent advisory committee on Senate appointments and the independent advisory committee on the appointment of the Governor General of Canada.
In recognition of his contributions to academic life, Canadian politics and educational innovation, Daniel Jutras was appointed as an officer of the Order of Canada. He was also awarded the Quebec Bar Medal in 1983, the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013, the distinction of Advocatus emeritus of the Quebec Bar in 2014 and the Mérite du Barreau du Québec in 2016.
