University: Public interest or an arms factory?

Who controls what you know, and what you don’t? In October the Guardian newspaper was gagged for trying to report on an oil firm dumping toxic waste in Africa, making thousands ill. Even in supposedly independent universities, arms firms and big drugs companies are calling the shots, and controlling what gets studied and what information gets released. But what can we do to Reclaim Education and knowledge, and take back control of what we know? Four panellists discuss the privatisation of knowledge itself.

David Leigh

David is the Guardian’s Investigations Executive Editor, whose work was behind the jailing of Jonathan Aitken and the exposure of secret payments by arms company BAE.

Barnaby Pace

Barnaby is a member of the Campaign Against Arms Trade steering committee and was the coordinator of the Weapons Out Of Warwick campaign and is currently carrying out research for a book on the arms trade and corruption.

Philip Moriarty

Philip is a Professor of Physics at the School of Physics & Astronomy at Nottingham University. He has publicly and stridently condemned the increasing corporate influence on university research agendas.

Beth Coldwell

Beth is a researcher at Corporate Watch, who supports the campaigns which are increasingly successful in forcing corporations to back down. She has conducted research on the influence of oil and gas firms on university research