How do geopolitical rivalries impact international cooperation in science? And how to continue collaborating when science is under attack? The global science system is increasingly under double pressure: first, in its self-understanding as an inherently international endeavour, as cross-border collaboration becomes subject to geopolitical tensions and strategic constraints; and second, more broadly, in its societal role, as its authority and legitimacy are challenged and politicised in the processes of democratic backsliding. In a number of research fields like artificial intelligence, climate adaptation, global health, space infrastructures, and gender studies intensifying political contestations, both within and between states, are fundamentally reshaping the conditions under which international research cooperation takes place. As a result, collaborations are increasingly situated at the intersection of competing political, epistemic, and strategic logics.

This panel examines how these shifts affect the production of knowledge as an international practice. It brings together perspectives from academia (STEM, social sciences, area studies) and practice to explore how research institutions can navigate the tensions between openness and sovereignty, and between repression and solidarity.

The panel is organised together by the Berlin Center for Global Engagement and the Excellence Cluster "SCRIPTS - Contestations of the Liberal Script".

Moderator: Tanja Börzel (FU/SCRIPT)

Panelists:

• Gülay Çağlar (FU/SCRIPT)
• Anna Ahlers (MPIGWG), tbc
• Harriet Njoki Mboce (University of Nairobi)