Edinburgh
AFFS warn Edinburgh University of likely unlawful EDI-related hiring requirements
(29.05.26) AFFS has formally warned the University of Edinburgh that its use of mandatory EDI “commitment” requirements in academic recruitment and promotion processes may be unlawful and incompatible with free speech protections.
Our investigation found academic job adverts listing “demonstrable commitment to promoting and embedding EDI” as an “essential” requirement, alongside promotions policies requiring staff to “demonstrate commitment” to EDI agendas.
While much promoted under the EDI banner is uncontroversial – and in some cases legally required – various highly contested ideas associated with gender identity ideology and critical race theory are also frequently advanced and effectively enforced under it. Recent case law has recognised that opposition to such beliefs is protected under the Equality Act.
That matters because, once “commitment to EDI” becomes an essential criterion in recruitment or promotion, universities risk turning lawful dissent from contested ideas into a professional disadvantage. Requiring academics to support, promote, or otherwise affirm adherence to EDI frameworks may therefore create serious legal risks, not just under the Equality Act, but under free speech legislation and the Human Rights Act.
AFFS’s wider review of UK university recruitment practices suggests Edinburgh is the only Scottish university imposing requirements on applicants to jobs and promotion to be committed to EDI. This risks turning hiring and promotion processes into de facto mechanisms for enforcing adherence to contested ideological orthodoxies, while chilling legitimate academic dissent and critical scholarship.
AFFS first warned Edinburgh about these likely compliance failures in November 2025. In its response, the University did not engage with the specific matters we raised, and further adverts using similar requirements continued to appear.
We have now written formally to senior University officers in a public letter and will report the University to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the Charity Commission and the Scottish Funding Council, notifying these bodies of the University’s likely compliance failures and recommending that, where appropriate, they take investigative and, if required, enforcement action against the University of Edinburgh.