International conference IMPURE: The Impure Science of Law – Constitutional Scholars in Democracy

The Faculty of Law of Charles University cordially invites you to the international conference IMPURE: The Impure Science of Law – Constitutional Scholars in Democracy, which will take place on 14–15 May 2026 at the Faculty (Room 38). The conference is one of the main outputs of the Donatio Universitatis Carolinae project and aims to open an interdisciplinary debate on the role constitutional scholars play in contemporary democracies, the forms of power and responsibility they carry, and the ways in which their work moves between academia, legal practice, and the public sphere.

The conference programme (held in English) brings together legal theory, sociology, political science, and Science & Technology Studies, and welcomes several distinguished figures of the international academic community. The opening keynote will be delivered by Professor Sheila Jasanoff of Harvard University, whose work has profoundly shaped how we understand the relationship between science, law, and modern democracy. Her lecture, Modernity’s Tacit Constitution: The Silent Conversation Between Law and Science, will offer an original perspective on how legal and scientific authorities co‑produce each other and what this means for contemporary democratic governance. On the second day, Professor Mattias Kumm (NYU / WZB Berlin), one of the leading theorists of global and European constitutionalism, will address the boundaries and possibilities of interdisciplinary research in legal scholarship and explore what constitutes “legitimate” and “illegitimate” uses of legal knowledge.

The panels will examine the symbolic power of legal ideas, the changing conditions of academic freedom, the implicit protocols of scholarly authority, and the evaluative mechanisms that shape academic life today. The discussions will address how legal scholars influence political orders, what pressures they face from university structures, funding schemes, and evaluation systems, and how disciplinary autonomy can be maintained at a time when the boundaries between expertise and political engagement are increasingly blurred and when the university itself has become a subject of public contestation. The conference thus provides a space to reflect on what it means to be a constitutional scholar in an era in which the distinction between academic and political roles is becoming less clear and in which higher education institutions are at the centre of public debate.

The relevance of the conference is underscored by the current Czech context. The ongoing discussion about the reform of the Higher Education Act, closely followed by the media in recent months and highlighted by the Initiative for the Reform of Higher Education (IRVŠ), shows that questions of academic autonomy, institutional culture, and the conditions for scholarly work are not merely technical matters but fundamental issues for a democratic society. The IMPURE conference offers an opportunity to situate these debates within a broader international framework and to reflect on them in dialogue with leading global experts whose experience and analytical tools can enrich and deepen the Czech discussion.

The event is open to academics, students, researchers, and the wider public interested in constitutional law, the sociology of science, and the institutional transformations of the contemporary university. A light reception with wine will follow the official programme, providing an opportunity for informal conversation.

Please register for the conference here.