Conference on Freedom of Expression, University of Helsinki
8 - 9 May 2014
University of Helsinki, Main Building, Room Runeberg
Deadline for call for papers: 28 February 2014

The conference is for all researchers, judges, journalists, representatives of NGOs and media practitioners (lawyers, editors, journalists, etc.) who are interested in the practical and legal extent and limitations on the freedom of expression. The conference will provide academics and practitioners alike with the opportunity to learn about the most significant freedom of expression developments in Europe in recent years. Experts from across the continent will provide an overview of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the most important trends in the field of freedom of expression. The conference will have as its main focus the legal aspects of freedom of expression, but media’s self-regulation and ‘self-censorship’ will also be discussed.

Speakers
Thursday 8 May 2014
• Mark Cole (Associate Professor, University of Luxembourg), 'Freedom of expression'
• Jan Oster’s (Assistant Professor, Leiden University), 'Press freedom'
• Lara Fielden (Researcher, Reuters Institute, Oxford), 'Regulating the press: A comparative study of international press councils'
• Risto Uimonen (Chairman of the Finnish Press Council), Commentary
• Reeta Pöyhtäri (Researcher, University of Tampere), 'Freedom of speech and hate speech: Effects on online hate speech on journalists and public discussion'
• Hannele Valkeeniemi (Producer, YLE current affairs), Journalistic view

Friday 9 May 2014
• Dirk Voorhoof (Professor, Ghent University), 'A critical analysis of some developments and characteristics in the ECtHRs case law'
• Päivi Hirvelä LL.D. (Judge, ECtHR), 'Recent trends in the ECtHR in the field of freedom of expression'
• Pauli Rautiainen (lecturer and Jukka Viljanen (professor) (University of Tampere), 'The Finnish way of legal reasoning in the test of European Courts' case law'
• Pauliine Koskelo (President of the Finnish Supreme Court), Commentary

Call for papers
The afternoons ar reserved for participants' presentations. The conference organizers invite papers that explore the following areas focussing on freedom of expression: the extent and limitations of freedom of expression in law and in practice, its relation to other fundamental and human rights, new challenges arising from digitalisation and new technologies, press ethics and self-censorship. The perspective can be legal or journalistic. 

15 to 20 minutes time are reserved for each presentation. If there are many high-quality papers, several parallel sessions or workshops will be organized .

Please send an abstract of no more than 600 words in length, and a short bio note to the e-mail address oik-freedomofexpression@helsinki.fi. Each proposal will be reviewed by a panel composed of members of the conference organising committee. Besides the full research papers, we also encourage submissions of short papers to facilitate active discussion of the open challenges and issues in this area of research. The abstract should be submitted by 28 February 2014.

Important dates for the call for papers and a detailed conference programme can be found here.