The 2022 TB Davie Memorial Lecture

Dear colleagues and students

I am delighted to announce that the 2022 TB Davie Memorial Lecture will be presented by Professor Fran Elaine Baum, director of Stretton Health Equity at the University of Adelaide in Australia. The lecture will be a physical event and is organised by the Academic Freedom Committee (AFC), who invite distinguished speakers to address a theme related to academic and human freedom.

The lecture is titled “Activism and the Corporate University: incompatible or possible?”. It is aptly titled to resonate with the ideals of former University of Cape Town (UCT) Vice-Chancellor Professor Thomas Benjamin Davie, in whose honour the lecture was established 56 years ago by UCT students. Professor Davie was a defender of the principles of academic freedom.

Professor Baum notes that universities across much of the English-speaking world have become corporatised in the way they are governed and through the various partnerships they form with large trans-national corporations.

Her lecture will consider what the implications of this trend are for activist academics who wish to challenge structures of power and privilege. She believes that the ability to be an activist as part of one’s academic role is a crucial part of academic freedom and enables a strong voice for the public good.

Previously a Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor at Flinders University, Professor Baum has just completed a term as co-chair of the Global Steering Council of the People’s Health Movement, a global network of health activists.

She received an Officer of the Order of Australia honour for her public health service. She is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and the Australian Health Promotion Association. Professor Baum is also a past National President and Life Member of the Public Health Association of Australia. She is author of The New Public Health and Governing for Health.

The TB Davie Memorial Lecture honours dissent and robust debate, and we thank the AFC for organising this event annually.

Please join the AFC for the 56th edition of this significant lecture with Professor Baum.

When: Wednesday, 24 August 2022

Venue: Lecture Theatre 2, Kramer Law Building, Middle Campus

Time: 18:00 SAST

Please register online to attend the lecture.

Sincerely

Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng
Vice-Chancellor

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