Motion
- Motion title
- Resisting cuts to research funding, defending academic freedom
- Session
- 2020-2021
- Meeting link
- HE conference
- Meeting date
- 2 June 2021
- Status
- Passed
- Motion
- HE18
- Motion text
Conference notes:
1. The almost 50% cuts to the UKRI ODA budget announced March 2021
2. The almost immediate withdrawal of funding, including from grants in progress.
3. Fears of further cuts to research funding, such as Horizon funding Conference believes:
a. The speed and size of cuts is an intentional assault on the HE sector’s finances, stability and strength.
b. Volatile, narrowly-defined funding streams are an assault on academic freedom that erodes the stability required to support an independent voice
c. The harms of withdrawing funding will disproportionately fall on casualised staff
Conference calls on employers to:
i. Guarantee no compulsory redundancies
ii. Provide replacement funding for PhD students
iii. Provide adequate funded time to bring in replacement funding from other sources or be redeployed
Conference commits UCU to lobby the government to reverse the cuts and increase research funding, allocated according to academic excellence
- Proposing body
- Anti-casualisation committee
- Amended
- No
- Allocated to
- Higher education committee (HEC)
- Notes
Administrative info
- Listing reference
- 2021/H/06-02/231/HE18