This report is a companion to one published earlier this year by CAAT and Demilitarise Education (dED), Weaponising Universities: Research Collaborations between UK Universities and the Military Industrial Complex. This report discussed the background to the growth of the “Military-Industrial-Academic Complex” (MIAC) in the UK, and the key technologies for which the government and the arms industry are seeking academic partnerships, along with case studies of three universities: Imperial College London, Southampton University, and Lancaster University.
The current report provides a case study of Sheffield University. It is intended as a stand-alone report, but readers seeking more background on some of the concepts discussed in this report, such as the MIAC, Emerging & Disruptive Technologies (EDTs),
Militarised Environmental Technologies (METs), or ideas such as General and Complete Disarmament (GCD), are encouraged to read Weaponising Universities.
The University of Sheffield (UoS) has attracted considerable controversy and protest for its heavy involvement in the military-industrial-academic complex (MIAC). A study by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) revealing extensive arms company research funding of UK universities since 2013, including UoS, found that UoS received the most funding. Between 2013-2020, UoS received £33.8m in research funding from Rolls-Royce, £6.7m from BAE Systems, £4.8m from Airbus, and £1.4m from QinetiQ, among others.
This report discusses UoS’s key research partnerships with the arms industry and military, especially relating to military aerospace and Emerging and Disruptive Technologies, and discusses ways in which students and staff could press the university to move away from military research into areas that promote a more peaceful world.
