Janneke Gerards is professor of fundamental rights law at the Montaigne Centre for Rule of Law and Administration of Justice of Utrecht University (the Netherlands). She conducts research mainly in the fields of European fundamental rights, judicial review and new technologies. As a chair of the Netherlands Royal Academy’s Committee on Freedom of Science, she has been involved in several projects regarding academic freedom, science and security, and safety of scientific researchers. In addition to her university work, she is, among other things, a member of the Scientific Committee of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency and a substitute member of the Venice Commission.
In a recent position paper, the Netherlands Royal Academy’s Committee on the Freedom of Science recommended to pay special attention to knowledge security matters. A careful balance should be struck in this regard between the need and importance of safeguarding national security and rule of law values, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, academic freedom and the need for a free exchange of ideas and findings.
To facilitate this, awareness should be raised within the wider research community (not limited to certain specific fields) and helpful frameworks should be created to allow different members of the community to make decisions that fit their responsibilities and strike a fair balance between the various conflicting interests.”