When research is suspiciously dishonest:: Chairs funded by polluting companies, greenwashing, and genocide washing

Abstract

The article denounces that certain university chairs are being financed by private companies and that they can function as instruments to distort scientific information and legitimize bad practices. It is argued that, although university-business collaboration is necessary and positive, there is a significant risk of bias when funders directly or indirectly condition the results, generating knowledge aligned with economic interests and not with the public interest or scientific truth. In this context, the proliferation of these chairs is interpreted as a form of greenwashing, with which companies -especially from controversial sectors- seek to improve their image through their association with academic institutions, eroding scientific credibility and social trust in the university as a guarantor of objectivity and rigor. On the other hand, it also denounces the fact that some Spanish universities participate with Israeli entities in EU R&D projects, which for many people is considered intolerable in the context of the genocide that Israel is committing against its neighbours in Palestine and Lebanon.