Let’s talk about scholar activism | Farzana Bashiri

Farzana Bashiri is a recent PhD graduate in Science Policy who studied the role of scholar activism within academia. Science Policy broadly examines how science institutions and political decision-making influence each other, including how research agendas are set and how scientific knowledge is integrated into society. Farzana’s field incorporates interdisciplinary approaches from the sociology of science and science and technology studies, with a particular focus on the interaction between science and politics rather than on the technical aspects of science.

Farzana’s personal journey to this topic followed a multidisciplinary path, beginning with a background in mechanical engineering in Iran. She became disillusioned with the male-dominated and uncritical engineering environment, which she saw as exacerbating environmental and patriarchal issues. This motivated her to engage with ecological studies and research that adopts an explicitly political and socially engaged stance, leading to her survey on academic activism: how scholars align with marginalised groups and commit to social justice and political change from a grassroots perspective.

Her research highlights the tensions faced by academic activists operating within a neoliberal, competitive university system. This system demands high productivity and efficiency amid shrinking resources and increasing workloads, often leaving little room for care work, mentorship, and other essential relational aspects of academic life. These pressures can lead to burnout, especially for those who pursue activism deeply alongside their educational responsibilities, with little institutional recognition or reward unless aligned with commercial or industrial interests.

From a gender perspective, she notes that structures within academia, activism, and society at large allocate minimal space for care work. She points out that even progressive activist groups may inadvertently reproduce the very systems they seek to transform, resulting in similar strains and inequalities. Despite these challenges, Farzana identifies hopeful spaces created by her mentors and supportive academic collectives that promote feminist-informed, caring, and more sustainable forms of scholarly activism.

Ultimately, she finds strength in communities of academic activists who persevere in creating alternative futures through reflexive practices and emancipatory theories that challenge dominant narratives of stagnation and powerlessness. Her research highlights both the difficulties and the opportunities of academic activism to effect meaningful social change by integrating care, critical theory, and collective action within an often-hostile institutional context.

This is part of WP1 | T.1.2. PRODUCTION OF ORIGINAL MULTIMEDIA CONTENTS: RESEARCH, STUDIES, ARCHIVAL MATERIALS, TESTIMONIES OF WITNESSES