Motion Passed: Demilitarise Education

Motion passed at UoB UNISON branch committee meeting on 19th January 2026.

This branch notes that: 

  • BAE Systems, Europe’s largest arms manufacturer, produces components for the F-35 aircraft, which has been used in the bombing of Gaza. 
  • Airbus, one of the top 20 arms manufacturers in the world (source, SIPRI) produces components for the Eurofighter Typhoon, which has been used in the bombing of Yemen. 
  • Thales, one of the top 20 arms manufacturers in the world (source, SIPRI) produces components for the Watchkeeper WK450 – in collaboration with Elbit Systems, an Israeli company – a spy-drone deployed by the Israeli state. 
  • The university’s Endowment Investment Policy prohibits investments in entities that generate more than 10% turnover in “the manufacture of anti-personnel weapons that may incapacitate or kill civilians, such as land mines and cluster bombs” and/or ‘have a record of direct involvement in human rights abuses, as may be determined by an internationally recognised body (including, without limitation, the United Nations), or which have explicit links to such entities. 
  • The university has investments, research and education links with arms companies that have been linked to entities with direct involvement in human rights abuses (such as Israel and Saudi Arabia), including the abovementioned BAE Systems, Thales, and Airbus. 

This branch believes that: 

  • The military-industrial-surveillance complex profits from human and environmental devastation. 
  • The university’s partnerships with these companies show complicity in human rights abuses and war crimes, directly violating its stated ethical commitments. 
  • Universities, as public institutions and places of research and learning, have a civic duty to advance the well-being of people and the planet by supporting peaceful and sustainable industries. 
  • The university should end partnerships with the military-industrial-surveillance complex and reallocate funds to sustainable and ethical sectors. 
  • The university does not have clear ethical research and educational partnership criteria, similar to their endowment investment policy EIP (point 8.1). 
  • Relying on academic discretion in the name of academic freedom is insufficient in the ethical duty to preventing partnership with arms companies. 
  • Giving reputational cover and aiding further profitability to arms companies in the form of supposed ‘dual use’ of research with apparent civilian applications is unethical. 
  • That the existing policies lack clarity, definition and precision regarding the ‘redlines’ e.g. with regards to human rights abuses 

This branch resolves to: 

  • Widely support the Demilitarise Education (dED) open letter, which calls on UK University leaders to formally adopt the (dED) Treaty—a practical framework to help universities end all investments and partnerships with the arms trade. 
  • Organise an event with Demilitarise Education in January or February 2026 to amplify the open letter with University staff and students. 
  • Campaign for the university to be transparent about its current partnerships, investments, and links to arms companies involved in human rights abuses and war crimes and to end all partnerships that contravene the stated mission of the University to “make a positive impact locally, nationally, and globally” 
  • Campaign for the university to formally adopt the dED treaty. 
  • Campaign to make all relevant university policies clear, public and accessible, with regards to increased limitations put on all partnerships with arms companies, including in research. 
  • Engage with other relevant unions [e.g. UCU UCU and Unite] to build a broad coalition in support of these campaigns. 

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