Branch Meeting held on Wednesday 1st July 2020
Motion carried with a majority: Passed: for 37 members, against 9, abstentions 17.
It was announced in May 2020 that SHU has accepted Selfit Medical into its Wellbeing Accelerator programme at the Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre (AWRC). The programme is funded by Research England and provides support of up to £20 000, along with facilities and expertise.
Selfit Medical is an Israeli digital therapy company aiming to treat brain and heart disorders in ageing populations using a robot therapist. The AWRC is specifically supporting Selfit Medical with their expertise in stroke rehabilitation.
Collaboration with an Israeli business has generated considerable concerns amongst staff and students at SHU, including the SHU Palestine Society and SHU Student Union. Concerns centre on the oppression of Palestinians by the Israeli state and the support that is implicitly given to the state by supporting its businesses, as well as considerable healthcare inequalities for Palestinians caused by Israeli state policies. So far, these concerns have been ignored by SHU leaders.
Furthermore, complicity in Palestinian oppression is inconsistent with the strong messages of support for racial equality and the Black Lives Matter movement recently expressed by the Vice-Chancellor and HROD at SHU.
Therefore, SHU UCU branch will make a formal request to the SHU leadership team to openly discuss and resolve these concerns with staff and students at SHU.