Panel 3: Supporting centers of resistance and transformation through research: a conversation based on the CRISES experience

In recent years, academia and research have become prime targets for attack by conservative and authoritarian movements. Depicting institutions of higher education as propaganda sites for the left, these movements have scored major victories in public debate that have undermined the academic community. The rise to power of the far-right in the United States now shows the extent of the dangers facing academic institutions and the research community. In this pivotal moment, what can research do? What can it create and build, how can it resist and stand its ground?

For the closing panel of its 7th international conference, CRISES brings together its former directors and its new director to discuss the ways in which the Centre has been a creator of breaches and interstices and, at times, a hub of resistance in the field of research and social transformation. The panel will also be an opportunity to explore the ways in which the conditions of creation and the trajectory of CRISES can inspire the future of research on social innovation and transformation in a context that surpasses, in intensity and depth, anything the Centre has experienced in the way of crises.

With

Benoît Lévesque, UQAM, Co-founder of CRISES and Director | 1986-2003

Juan-Luis Klein, UQAM, Director of CRISES | 2009-2018

Sylvain A. Lefèvre, UQAM, Director of CRISES | 2018-2024

Sonia Tello-Rozas, UQAM, Director of CRISES since June 2024

The panel will be moderated by Professor Nolywé Delannon (ULaval).