In June 2017 all members of the Human Geography group of the Department of Geography sent the following open letter to the University Leadership Team:

Dear colleagues,

We are writing, as the Human Geography group within the geography department to draw your attention to the grave staffing crisis affecting human geography teaching and research at the University of Leicester.

Over the last two years the department of geography has lost three FTE members of core human geography teaching staff (more than 20% of the team). The problem has been particularly acute this academic year with no meaningful cover to help with delivering our undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. As a result, several staff have delivered at least 50% more teaching contact hours this year than they did last year (on top of already high teaching loads). An increasing number of the team have more than 100% of their time allocated according to the departmental workload model, and all routinely work substantially beyond 40 hours per week. This has had a profound effect on the health, well-being and morale of the remaining staff. Two members of the team have had extended periods of sick leave where work-related stress has been a factor; and others are holding on to their health by a thread. Despite our repeated warnings about this situation, we see no evidence of the university taking action to protect our health and safety at work. We now believe that the university is failing in its duty of care.

The department has made a business case for three new members of human geography staff. However, we are being told that there is a possibility these posts will not be approved in time to recruit staff to be in post by the start of next academic year and that they are ranked as a lower priority than other ‘strategic investments’ within the college. This is unacceptable, unhealthy and unsustainable. The chronic understaffing of human geography at Leicester has been going on too long. Without an investment in new human geography staff, we will not be able to cover all of our teaching commitments, or deliver them to a high quality, for another year. We are beginning to believe that the university is setting us up to fail. We seek your reassurances that this is not the case and request swift action to address the situation.

Despite these problems, human geographers have had a successful year in terms of grant capture and securing funding for new doctoral candidates. However, these successes will stretch staff workloads even further and making a sustainable solution to the understaffing of human geography even more urgent and necessary. We look forward to hearing your plan for the long-term survival and success of human geography teaching and research within the new School of Geography, Geology and the Environment. How will you ensure that we can maintain and improve our national reputation for enthusiastic and engaging teaching, and our international reputation for innovative critical and creative geography that is fit for addressing high profile global challenges?

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