Nominees for the BRISMES Committee on Academic Freedom (2024-2027)

Benjamin Schuetze

I am a Senior Researcher and Emmy Noether Research Group leader at the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute (ABI) in Freiburg, Germany, as well as Fellow with the Young Academy for Sustainability Research at the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS). Following my BA at the University of Leipzig and the American University of Beirut (AUB), I completed my MA and PhD at SOAS, London. My research examines the political economy of renewable energies in the MENA, and how so-called ‘democracy promotion’ initiatives reinforce authoritarian power structures in Jordan. I have been outspoken about growing attacks on academic freedoms in Germany, particularly with regard to Palestine, and am leading efforts to establish a Committee on Academic Freedom – modelled on the BRISMES CAF – within the German Middle Eastern Studies Association (DAVO).