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Science as a Cultural Human Right - Book Talk

  • Books and Company 1 Sofievej Hellerup, 2900 Denmark (map)

EVENT COST: 50, DKK-

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The right to science is a little-known but potentially very powerful human right. One of four core cultural human rights – the other three being the rights to education, to participate in cultural life, and authors’ rights.

It is our great pleasure to welcome Professor Helle Porsdam for an insightful evening where she will share her latest research on science as a human right. She will talk about the legal stature of this right, the potential consequences of not establishing it as fundamental, and its connection to global cultural rights.

About the Book

The human right to science, outlined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and repeated in the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, recognizes everyone's right to 'share in scientific advancement and its benefits' and to 'enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications.'

This right also requires state parties to develop and disseminate science, to respect the freedom of scientific research, and to recognize the benefits of international contacts and co-operation in the scientific field. The right to science has never been more important.

About the author

Helle Porsdam is Professor of Law and Humanities at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies of Law (CIS), Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen. She teaches American culture and history in the SAXO Department, Faculty of the Humanities, University of Copenhagen, and law and humanities, the culture and history of human rights and cultural rights at the Faculty of Law. She also holds a UNESCO Chair in Cultural Rights. She did her PhD in American Studies at Yale University, has been a Liberal Arts Fellow twice at the Harvard Law School as well as a fellow at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, and the University of Munich.