Details of a survey of Science Museum staff which revealed strong opposition to the museum’s stance on corporate sponsorship have come to light following Freedom of Information requests by Culture Unstained and were reported on by The Times on Saturday.

The survey, undertaken by Prospect union, revealed: 

• Widespread “ethical concerns with the organisation’s controversial sponsorships which impact staff pride, morale and motivation” across the Science Museum Group (SMG)

• How 64% of Science Museum staff disagree with the SMG’s decision-making on public programmes, sponsorship, and partnerships.

• The survey reports how, “When asked whether staff understand and agree with SMG’s decision-making on public programmes, sponsorship, and partnerships, only 17% of respondents agreed.” (across all SMG sites).

• “Further, when asked if SMG’s aforementioned decision-making impacts their satisfaction/wellbeing at work, 44% of respondents agreed.” This figure is 47% for the Science Museum in London.

• One key finding of the survey, on the topic of Transparency and Accountability, highlighted how: 

“There is an overly hierarchical approach to planning and workloads, with unrealistic deadlines and insufficient resources to support staff. There are also ethical concerns with the organisation’s controversial sponsorships which impact staff pride, morale and motivation… There are also significant concerns about financial decisions and priorities, especially as teams are asked to deliver more expensive projects and exhibitions, while core staff face redundancies and resource cuts.”

Survey results, obtained by Culture Unstained via FOI, can be viewed here.

The survey was published in July 2025 and presented to the Board of Trustees in July-August. The Science Museum gave no further indication of any further follow up discussions when asked by Culture Unstained. 

In a report by The Times, a former Science Museum staff member who took part in the survey confirmed the “widespread frustration” at the partnerships, which had been “imposed from above with no way to contest them.” They said:

“There was a lot of frustration regarding the relationships that were being maintained, which were bound up with the wider question of oil and fossil fuels but with Palestine also being very prominent… There was a sense among some staff that the museum was tarnishing its legacy and certainly making it difficult for people to promote its work.”

Praveen Kolluguri, Prospect Member (EE Branch), organiser with India Labour Solidarity and organiser with Fossil Free Science Museum, said: 

“It’s good to see our union keeping a pulse on membership and taking the time to understand what’s on members’ minds. It’s clear that members have rightly raised concerns about sponsorships from companies like Adani Green Energy — part of the Adani Group, a deeply problematic conglomerate currently under federal investigation for bribery in the USA, the largest coal producer in the world, and a joint weapons manufacturer with Elbit Systems.

What members want to see happen next is Prospect acting on that feedback to put pressure on management on behalf of those members. I urge Prospect to be transparent about its stance on this sponsorship, to actively engage with the Fossil Free Science Museum campaign, and to take a clear stand against our museums being used as vehicles for greenwashing.”

Isobel Tarr, Co-director of Culture Unstained, said:

“It’s inconceivable that the Science Museum’s management can continue to let the wellbeing, pride and morale of its staff be impacted so severely by its Adani sponsorship, a deal that likely accounts for less than 0.5% of the Museum’s annual income. There’s no excuse for exploiting the staff who keep the museum running and help to hold our culture sector together, let alone when it serves to clean-up the reputations of polluter BP and Adani, a coal and weapons producer infamous for worker exploitation and human rights abuses internationally. 

Rather than a Director that willingly brokers lobbying meetings for Adani and hosts soirees for its investors – even as the company stands accused of bribery and fraud – the museum needs a leader it can be proud of and puts integrity, public trust and staff wellbeing first.”

Sir Ian Blatchford, Science Museum Group Chief Executive and Director of the Science Museum (London), has previously been in the spotlight for dismissing his staff’s damning 12-page due diligence reporting on Adani – allegedly in order to rush the deal through to secure the sponsorship – which had itemised multiple instances of alleged fraud, corruption, pollution and human rights abuses. This came amid resignations of trustees Dr Jo Foster, and Dr Hannah Fry, who cited the Adani sponsorship and the museum’s stance on funding as her motivation. 

Since ‘Energy Revolution: The Adani Green Energy Gallery’ opened at the Science Museum in 2023, the company’s renewable energy wing has been indicted for bribery and investor fraud by a United States court, with arrest warrants being issued for senior executives including Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani. Despite this, the Museum has continued to defend its relationship with Adani and hosted a private cocktail event for Adani and its investors last September.  

Further investigations by Culture Unstained, as reported by The Guardian, suggest that BP has also used its sponsorship of the Science Museum Academy to connect with MPs and ministers for lobbying purposes, in line with its stated strategy to ‘reach high level decision makers’ by ‘leveraging our distinctive position as a champion of STEM in education’.

This comes against the backdrop of a growing ‘cultural, academic and education’ boycott of the Science Museum as teachers, schools and culture workers refuse to participate in the Museum’s programming until the controversial sponsorships with BP and Adani are ended.

The boycott, brought by member groups of the Fossil Free Science Museum, includes worker-led groups such as Equity for a Green New Deal, Artists and Culture Workers London and is backed by the National Education Union. 

In addition to the findings of the Prospect Union survey, the Museum has also come under direct pressure over its working conditions with security workers contracted by the museum who are members of the union United Voices of the World (UVW) staging strikes last year over pay and wellbeing.