This report discusses the deepening ties between universities in the UK and the arms industry and military research, which include arms industry-funded research on campus, dedicated research centres sponsored by the arms industry and/or the MOD and other parts of the UK security establishment, and other ties. The report discusses the history of the so-called “Military-Industrial-Academic Complex” (MIAC), and the reasons why the government is increasingly drawing on academia to further research with military applications. Two key areas of research are highlighted: “Emerging and Disruptive Technologies” (EDTs), such as AI, autonomous systems, and hypersonic weapons, which are believed to have the potential to change the nature of warfare; and what the report describes as “Militarized Environmental Technologies” (METs) – technologies that seek to reduce the environmental impact of military activities (such as military aviation), but which are also used to gain military advantage, and as a propaganda tool to “greenwash” the fundamentally unsustainable business of war.
The report then presents three case studies: Imperial College London, Southampton University, and Lancaster University, with detailed information on their various research links with the arms industry, and these two key areas of EDTs and METs in particular.
A fourth chapter discusses opposition within universities and academia to their militarization, and ways in which universities might, on the contrary, pursue research aimed at promoting peace and global disarmament, including the economic alternatives to arms production. Finally, a set of recommendations are made, both for universities themselves, and for students and academics seeking to challenge the weaponization of their universities.
Watch the launch event for the report featuring Okopi Ajonye and CAAT’s Sam Perlo Freeman in discussion with Prof. Andy Stirling of the Science Policy Research Unit at University of Sussex, peace studies scholar Dr. Victoria Araj, and student activist River Butterworth here:
