<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>340582</docID> <postdate>2025-03-18 11:44:57</postdate> <headline>Unis bridle at Trump’s ‘woke’ research questions</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-332566" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/20241107184865456889-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)</caption> <p class="theconversation-article-title"><span class="kicker-line">Trump is surveying Australian academics about gender diversity and China. <strong>BRENDAN WALKER-MUNRO</strong> looks at what this means for unis and their research.</span></p> <div class="theconversation-article-body"> <p><strong>Shortly after taking office, US President Donald Trump <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/22/us/dei-diversity-equity-inclusion-explained/index.html">issued executive orders</a> banning federal funding on so-called “woke†research.</strong></p> <p>This is part of his <a href="https://theconversation.com/dei-initiatives-removed-from-federal-agencies-that-fund-science-but-scientific-research-continues-248810">broader ban on all diversity</a>, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies, grants and programs in the US government.</p> <p>These orders are massive in scope, <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/science-research-policy/2025/02/26/nsfs-higher-ed-research-hit-list">impacting studies</a> as varied as stroke recovery, computing and ancient languages.</p> <p>The impact in the United States so far has been dramatic. Some universities are already <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/06/us/politics/trump-university-funding-grad-student-cuts.html">cutting student admissions</a> and looking at ways to <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/03/13/trump-cuts-university-research-admissions/82367626007/">shed academic staff and researchers</a>.</p> <p>Now the ban has <a href="https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/trump-regime-demands-aussie-unis-declare-china-transgender-links-20250312-p5liyf">impacted Australian researchers</a> who have links to US government-funded projects. The Trump Administration is asking for information <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/radionational-breakfast/australian-academy-of-science-fed-government/105059696">on how their research fits in</a> with US foreign and domestic policy.</p> <h3><span style="color: #800000;">What has happened?</span></h3> <p>The US government has <a href="https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/trump-regime-demands-aussie-unis-declare-china-transgender-links-20250312-p5liyf">sent a 36-point questionnaire</a> to some Australian researchers who are working on joint projects with US colleagues.</p> <p>ABC Radio National <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/radionational-breakfast/australian-academy-of-science-fed-government/105059696">reports</a> at least eight Australian universities are involved. Their research areas include foreign aid, medicine, vaccines and defence. The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/health/foreign-aid-questionnaire.html?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email">reports</a> a similar document has also been sent to other overseas organisations with US funding links.</p> <p>The questions are wide-ranging and cover academics’ links to China as well as their projects’ focus on topics such as diversity, inclusion and gender identity, as well as climate change.</p> <p>Some of the specific questions include:</p> <blockquote><p><em>Can you confirm that your organisation has not received ANY funding from PRC <a href="including%20Confucius%20Institutes%20and/or%20partnered%20with%20Chinese%20state%20and%20non-state%20actors">People’s Republic of China</a>, Russia, Cuba or Iran?</em></p> <p><em>Can you confirm that this is no DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] project or DEI elements of the project? [sic]</em></p> <p><em>Does this project take appropriate measures to protect women and to defend against gender ideology as defined in the below <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/defending-women-from-gender-ideology-extremism-and-restoring-biological-truth-to-the-federal-government/">Executive Order</a>?</em></p> <p><em>Can you confirm this is not a climate or “environmental justice†project or include such elements?</em></p></blockquote> <p>The survey also covers issues such as secure borders with Mexico, ending government waste, terrorism, the war on opioids, and “eradicating anti-Christian biasâ€.</p> <p><iframe id="tc-infographic-1159" class="tc-infographic" style="border: none;" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/1159/fef4fb1c48c27196b7a6b19fbdcb694c37d7b370/site/index.html" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <h3><span style="color: #800000;">Concern and anger</span></h3> <p>In response, the <a href="https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/trump-regime-demands-aussie-unis-declare-china-transgender-links-20250312-p5liyf">Group of Eight</a> (which represents Australia’s top research universities) and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/radionational-breakfast/australian-academy-of-science-fed-government/105059696">Australian Academy of Science</a> have separately raised concerns with the Australian government about the survey and its impact on Australian research.</p> <p>The Group of Eight says the US has already suspended or terminated research grants with six of its eight member universities.</p> <p>The National Tertiary Education Union also <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-14/trump-administration-asks-australian-universities-funding/105053784?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email">labelled the survey</a> “blatant foreign interferenceâ€.</p> <p>A spokesperson for Education Minister Jason Clare says Australia is<br /> “engaging with the US government to understand what these measures mean for future funding and collaborationâ€.</p> <h3><span style="color: #800000;">Are Trump’s orders legal?</span></h3> <p>Trump’s executive orders are currently the subject of <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2025-03-13/trump-administration-is-defying-court-order-over-anti-dei-policy-groups-say">numerous lawsuits</a> in the US. Plaintiffs say Trump’s orders <a href="https://natlawreview.com/article/federal-court-blocks-trumps-anti-dei-executive-orders-nationwide">violate the First and Fifth Amendments</a> – those dealing with protection of free speech, equal protection and “due process of law†when depriving a citizen of property.</p> <p>Whether Trump’s orders are legal or not is a tricky question, and will likely come down the judges <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/national-news/articles/how-many-of-trumps-executive-orders-are-being-challenged">hearing each case</a>.</p> <p>In the meantime, US government agencies are <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-administration-funding-freeze-workarounds">withholding funding anyway</a>. Reports also suggests Trump has <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-administration-is-defying-court-order-over-anti-dei-policy-groups-say-2025-03-14/">instructed his administration</a> to ignore court orders – hardly surprising, given Trump’s <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2024/05/06/politics/merchan-trump-gag-order-contempt/index.html">history</a> of contempt of US courts.</p> <h3><span style="color: #800000;">What does this mean for Australia?</span></h3> <p>US involvement in Australian research is significant. According to the <a href="https://www.science.org.au/news-and-events/news-and-media-releases/statement-on-us-government-intervention-in-australia-us-research-collaboration">Academy of Science</a>, US government research funding involving Australian research organisations was $A386 million in 2024.</p> <p>It is <a href="https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/universities-accuse-trump-administration-of-foreign-influence-20250312-p5liwc">arguable</a> Trump’s orders infringe Australian sovereignty. But the US has always had the capacity to interfere in Australian university research – it just hasn’t actually done it until now.</p> <p>Research contracts signed between universities and funding bodies can contain all kinds of requirements, so US law can end up applying to Australian researchers. When the AUKUS deal was announced in 2021, <a href="https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/preparing-australian-universities-for-aukus/">a huge question</a> was how universities would comply with notoriously harsh US export control laws.</p> <p>The survey indicates it was issued by the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/">US Office of Management and Budget</a> and appears to be supported by the US <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/chips">CHIPS and Science Act</a> (which authorises certain research investments) and National Science Foundation <a href="https://www.nsf.gov/policies/pappg">policies</a>. So, while Australian researchers could potentially ignore these questionnaires, that would legally give a US funding body grounds to cancel the funding contract.</p> <p>Our foreign interference laws also <a href="https://theconversation.com/albanese-says-our-laws-would-stop-elon-musk-interfering-in-the-australian-election-in-truth-theres-little-to-stop-him-247361">weren’t designed</a> for situations like this. Even if they did, Trump is the current head of the US government, and is likely to be <a href="https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199796953/obo-9780199796953-0018.xml">immune from prosecution</a></p> <p>Statutory tests for foreign interference – including criteria that such acts are covert, and/or involve threats of harm – <a href="https://time.com/7210039/what-is-dei-trump-executive-order-companies-diversity-efforts/">simply don’t apply</a> to a US president like Trump.</p> <p>So legally, it doesn’t look like there is much Australia can do about Trump’s orders.</p> <h3><span style="color: #800000;">What can Australia do?</span></h3> <p>Some newly unemployed researchers are now <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00757-1">poised to leave the US</a>, taking their research with them. This poses a potential security risk, with countries such as <a href="https://amp-scmp-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3301674/princeton-nuclear-physicist-liu-chang-leaves-us-china-fusion-energy-quest">China</a> and <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/russia-exodus-scientists-brain-draine-ukraine-war-1840252">Russia</a> both keen to capitalise on Trump’s decisions.</p> <p>But other nations are also aware of the possibilities. The European Union has already <a href="https://sciencebusiness.net/international-news/europe-could-be-haven-us-researchers-says-erc-president">offered</a> displaced US scientists a more “sympathetic place to workâ€. <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2025/02/12/trump-cuts-medical-research-brain-drain-young-scientists-see-better-opportunity-abroad/">South Korea</a> and <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/campaigns/tech-talent.html">Canada</a> are also marketing themselves as attractive options. Australia could follow suit.</p> <p>The federal government is currently <a href="https://consult.industry.gov.au/strategic-examination-rd-discussion-paper">doing a strategic review</a> of Australia’s research and development system. This could make diversifying our research partners a national priority.</p> <p>This could include <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/australian-exit-horizon-europe-talks-missed-opportunity">revisiting a 2023 decision</a>, not to join Horizon Europe – the European Union’s <a href="https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe_en">key research fund</a>.</p> <p>Either way, given such radical changes in the US, Australia needs to seriously reconsider how it is funding and structuring research.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. 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More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/brendan-walker-munro-1326958">Brendan Walker-Munro</a>, Senior Lecturer (Law), <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/southern-cross-university-1160">Southern Cross University.</a> Republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a>.</em></p> </div> </body>