This ain’t a scene, it’s a Russell Group arms race

In August, The Huffington Post UK revealed that the prestigious Russell Group, of which King’s is a member, received at least £83m worth of funds from firms involved in the arms trade from 2008 to 2011. This news comes six years after Roar! reported King’s owned shares in the arms trade worth £903,550.*

Data released by the Campaign Against The Arms Trade (CAAT) has revealed that universities in the Russell Group, including Imperial College, Queen Mary and UCL, gain millions in research and sponsorship from companies that manufacture weapons.

CAAT used a freedom of information request to ask for the amount of funding for research and from sponsorship that the 24 Russell Group universities received from private arms companies and the Ministry of Defence’s research arms from 2008 to 2011.

Of the universities that responded, only one said it received no such funds – the London School of Economics. … Of the others, it found Imperial College received the most funds from government and private military sources at £15.2m.

The data reveals that King’s received £5,346,498 in total for military projects between 2008 and 2011. Of this, £5,343,998 was from the UK government and £2,500 from private companies.

A Russell Group spokesperson responded to the findings: “Like all world-class universities Russell Group institutions collaborate with a number of public and private sector companies on a wide range of leading research projects, including in the defence sector. All our universities have robust systems in place to ensure any partnerships are appropriate.”

*All data within this article can be found on CAAT’s website.

You can follow Ben Jackson on Twitter at @bjacksonuk