Sheffield Hallam academic says he was ‘sacked’ for writing negative paper about migrants

A Sheffield Hallam academic has said he was “sacked” by the university for writing a negative research paper about migrant workers.

Professor Steve Fothergill alleged his contract was terminated after his paper showed that migrants were employed in almost 50 per cent of jobs based in former coal mining areas.

According to The Telegraph, Professor Fothergill claimed the university did not renew his short-term part time contract after bosses at Sheffield Hallam said they were unhappy with the paper.

The academic, who is an economist specialising in urban and regional development, has since accused the university of launching an “assault on academic freedom”, claiming that Sheffield Hallam “simply didn’t like the conclusions we came to”.

However, despite Professor Fothergill’s allegations, the university said that there was no “attempt to suppress the research project or its findings”, and explained that he was only on secondment at the institution.

The research paper in question focused on employment growth in former English and Welsh mining areas between 2011 and 2021. During his research, he found that nearly half of workers in these areas were from abroad.

Professor Fothergill concluded that despite the “effort, energy and funding” put into these areas for regeneration, that the result was a “poor rate of return”.

The paper also noted that the number of coalfield residents on out-of-work benefits could be linked with the number of jobs going to non-British workers.

Professor Fothergill, in his research, also proposed to “better regulate migration to the UK, to bring down the numbers so that more of the benefits of local regeneration feed through to local residents.”

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The academic explained that he was called into a meeting at the university days after the article’s publication, which is when he alleges he was told by the university that it wasn’t happy with his work.

He said: “I was told there was an issue with the quality of the academic work, which is nonsense – the paper is a very thorough evaluation of the numbers.”

This is when he said his contract, which has been renewed since 1992, was terminated.

In emails seen by The Telegraph, the director of Sheffield Hallam University’s Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research told Professor Fothergill that whilst the data is not “wrong or [his] conclusions cannot be substantiated”, that the research had “not been presented in a way that is sufficiently robust academically to substantiate the policy conclusions it draws and the language that is used to propose them”.

The director further added that the study “fails to engage critically with wider debates around migration” and uses language which is “at best a little careless and at worst will be seen as offensive or inflammatory”.

The email then also said: “You are talking about people who have legally moved to the UK – just as many from the UK have legally moved to other countries”, and called some of the research’s conclusions “jingoistic”.

However, Professor Fothergill explained that his paper had been read by half a dozen leading academics: “These are leading professors, in Cambridge, Birmingham and Newcastle, whose views I respect. No one came back saying ‘Oh no Steve, you’ve got this wrong’.

“They were all saying ‘Wow, this is rather shocking in terms of the numbers’.”

Professor Fothergill also denied his conclusions being “jingoistic”, saying: “I made sure that it was an objective, numbers-driven economic analysis, couched in very careful language where it reaches its conclusions.

“This isn’t about race or culture, it is a number-crunching exercise. But people in the university didn’t like the conclusions that we came to.”

He further claimed Sheffield Hallam to be “overriding academic integrity” and that other academics he knows are “really quite shocked by this behaviour.”

A spokesperson for Sheffield Hallam University said: “Professor Steve Fothergill is not employed by Sheffield Hallam University, he has been seconded to the University for one day per week on an external contract from another employer.

“The contract is due to end earlier than planned in January 2025 as we have taken the decision not to renew a number of external contracts due to the financial pressures being experienced right across the HE sector.

“Sheffield Hallam University takes its responsibility to protect and promote both free speech and academic freedom seriously. At no point was there any attempt to suppress the research project or its findings.”

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