Blog Article
From systemic political attacks on research and threats on academic freedom to the detrimental role of misinformation on public trust and the importance of international collaboration.
Published July 3, 2025
By Nick Fetty
Academy Contributor

Nicholas B. Dirks, President and CEO of The New York Academy of Sciences recently discussed the role politics will play in scientific and academic research going forward, not only in the United States but across the globe.
Dirks, alongside Ferry Breedveld, President of the Federation of European Academies of Medicine, discussed these matters in a recent episode of Karger in Conversation, a free quarterly online event series created by Karger Publishers, designed to bring together diverse voices from across the academic world, publishing, research, and industry. With Prof. Dirks providing an American perspective and Prof. Breedveld offering observations from Europe, the duo’s conversation covered everything from systemic political attacks on research and threats on academic freedom to the detrimental role of misinformation on public trust and the importance of international collaboration.