Motion: Lack of Confidence in the Board of Governors Independent Review into Academic Freedom

Motion: Lack of Confidence in the Board of Governors Independent Review into Academic Freedom

This UCU branch notes:

  • In November 2025 Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) made headlines around the world for its treatment of our member, Prof Laura Murphy.
  • The release of documents show that restrictions were placed upon Laura’s research, while university employees balanced support for her research against recruitment from the Chinese international market, and seemingly responded to directions from the Chinese ‘National Security Service’.
  • SHU only reversed this course of action after intervention by Laura’s legal representatives.
  • The Board of Governors subsequently commissioned an ‘Independent Review’ into the University’s handling of this case, but will not make the Review’s Terms of Reference public, nor commit to publishing its findings in full.

This UCU branch believes:

  • This union has rightly identified the Laura Murphy case as ‘chilling’ in the way that it strikes at the heart of academic freedom, which was seemingly sacrificed at the altar of commercial considerations.
  • That the precise framing of any Review is crucial. Due to the weight of evidence that has been released into the public domain, it is clear that Laura Murphy’s academic freedom was interfered with, it is clear that commercial considerations weighed on the university’s decision-making, it is clear that senior members of staff were involved in that decision-making, and it is clear thar the university did not simply run afoul of new legislation not fully understood (the National Security Act 2023), but was breaching laws that have been in existence for decades (Education (No. 2) Act 1986).
  • Given this context, the lack of a commitment to transparency from the SHU Board of Governors regarding the Independent Review is both lamentable and fundamentally unacceptable.

This UCU branch resolves:

  • To campaign for a commitment from the SHU Board of Governors to full transparency regarding both the Terms of Reference of the Independent Review and the timely publication of its findings.
  • In the absence of such transparency, call for a ) a vote of no confidence in the Board of Governors and b) undertake a truly independent UCU-led inquiry into these issues.