Press Release 7th November 2025
Sheffield Hallam University: Staff to strike over job cuts amid further concern over poor governance and threats to academic freedom
Staff at Sheffield Hallam University will be taking 12 days of strike action in response to the university’s refusal to rule out further compulsory redundancies.
The strike dates are: 11-13th November, 17-20th November and 1st-5th December.
The university has refused UCU’s offer to stand down the strike if it would commit to no compulsory redundancies until the Spring of 2026 and review its current strategy of making savings from staff costs. This strategy has so far resulted in the loss of at least 600 jobs and UCU is fearful of further job losses in the new year.
The University’s decision-making and its governance is under intense scrutiny after its handling of the case of Professor Laura Murphy, whose research into forced labour of Uyghur Muslims in the north-western region of Xinjiang, was temporarily banned after pressure from China. Jo Grady, general secretary of UCU, has stated ‘it is incredibly worrying that Sheffield Hallam appears to have attempted to silence its own professor on behalf of a foreign government’. She added: ‘Given the censorship Hallam has seemingly engaged in, it now needs to set out how it will ensure its academics will be supported to research freely and protected from overreach by foreign powers’. Details of this case are in the public domain and can be followed here:
BBC News: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq50j5vwny6o
The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/nov/03/uk-university-halted-human-rights-research-after-pressure-from-china