E&OE

TEGAN TAYLOR: Not a day seems to go by without another unexpected statement from U.S. President Donald Trump. This time he’s targeted us here in Australia. Seven of our universities are facing large cuts to research funding from the U.S. The Trump administration has asked Australian academics involved in joint U.S. research to explain how their projects align with its domestic and foreign policy aims. The U.S. has sent out a 36-point questionnaire raising concerns about foreign interference if the project relates to diversity, equity and inclusion and whether it complies with the President’s two-gender policy, among other things. And if they don’t align with Trump’s vision of the world, he’ll stop the funding.

What would cutting $600 million mean for our university students and researchers? Well, you’re about to hear from the body that represents universities in Australia as well as a PhD research student about the ongoing struggle to secure research funding. I am joined by Luke Sheehy who’s the Chief Executive Officer of Universities Australia and Maddison Williams-Hoffman, a PhD research student at Edith Cowan University. Luke and Maddison, welcome.

LUKE SHEEHY: Good to be with you Tegan.

TEGAN TAYLOR: Luke, I’ll start with you. President Trump has already stopped some funding. Which universities are affected? 

LUKE SHEEHY: Thanks, Tegan. This is really alarming that Australia’s closest ally, someone who funds more than half a billion dollars of research in the Australian system seeking Australian expertise to benefit both countries, is putting all of that at risk. You’re right, seven universities have been impacted. They range from metropolitan universities like our big research universities, Monash University and UNSW, but also some of our regional universities are impacted, Charles Darwin University and the University of Technology Sydney. So, it’s a range of universities doing a range of really important work. The United States doesn’t gift Australia this money. It is seeking our expertise, and I’m really concerned that after decades of collaboration, all of this could be put at risk.

TEGAN TAYLOR: So, the questionnaire that was sent out to universities, were you surprised by its content?

LUKE SHEEHY: It takes a lot to surprise me about what’s coming from the Trump administration at the moment, Tegan. So, I wasn’t. I’ve been briefed on what the contents of the survey are. It clearly aligns with the priorities of the new administration, and they are clear that they want to have, as you’ve rightly pointed out, an alignment with their world view and whether or not that $600 million of funding will be consistent with that. Let’s wait and see if it impacts the whole package of funding. So far, we know it’s been only seven incidences, but it is a worrying trend that Australia’s most trusted partner, not only in terms of our democracies but also in terms of our strategic interests, is putting our research collaboration at risk. So, we are concerned, and we are talking to government agencies here in Australia and Canberra to make sure that they’re keeping an eye on it as well as the universities are.

TEGAN TAYLOR: Maddison, I’ll bring you in here. You are on the coalface when it comes to getting funding, how much will the Trump administration withdrawing this funding hurt students?

MADDISON WILLIAMS-HOFFMAN: Hi. That’s a really good question and I think unfortunately at this point it’s a bit of a question mark. It’s uncertain and that uncertainty in itself is what’s causing a lot of people anxiety. We exist in a research ecosystem here in Australia as PhD students. That’s already quite fragile and the support and backing that we receive domestically is already not excellent. So, anything I guess that compounds on top of that as the uncertainty of will I complete this project is of a huge concern to students who are involved in these cross international projects.

TEGAN TAYLOR: Is your funding affected or is it likely to become affected?

MADDISON WILLIAMS-HOFFMAN: For myself personally, no. But I’ve been speaking with other PhD students at my university who I didn’t even realise but have come to be affected even at this point indirectly. So, with things like databases that are hosted in the U.S. that have been brought under the spotlight under the new Trump administration and their ideologies, access to some of those systems for people have already started to become problematic. And I think some of these indirect impacts as well as obviously from the mass exodus of funding that potentially will happen in the future. See small parts that I think people have woven into their projects as necessary that we may struggle to find alternatives here in Australia.

TEGAN TAYLOR: Luke, coming back to you. This sort of a blow to university funding follows hot on the heels of the cap on the number of full paying international students. So, universities are looking for cash flow. What will all of this together actually mean for students in real terms? When will they actually start feeling these effects?

LUKE SHEEHY: We know that a sledgehammer approach to the student visa program over the last 12 months has had at least a $4.4 billion impact on the Australian economy and a lot of that has been hit directly at universities. That money that we receive through our international student program directly funds so much of our research in Australia and it is having a huge impact on what our universities can do. We are not-for-profit institutions. We take money and invest it in our research and our teaching to benefit Australia and the world. And it’s really, really worrying that not only have we got a government that’s not supporting our sector to support itself, but we’re also now seeing worrying trends from what used to be our trusted partner in the U.S.

It’s budget day today and I’m in Parliament House in Canberra and I’ll be making the case that in the looming election and the budget tonight, we need to see direct investment from the Australian government in our own research capability. There are big things that both major parties want to achieve for the country, including making us healthier, giving us a higher productivity and a higher standard of living, and also big-ticket items like a Future Made in Australia or a transition to net zero energy. We can’t do any of that without strong and growing universities in this country. So, I’m making the case for investment in universities to benefit Australians and the world and it’s really important that if we are seeing a deterioration of such a major source of funding, or at least it being a threat that the Australian government steps in and looks at not only domestic funding but alternatives around the world.

One thing that Australia has yet to sign up to is the Horizon research program in Europe. That is a $92 billion global funding pool of research that even New Zealand has signed up to, yet the Australian government hasn’t yet signed up to it and it is something that could really benefit Australia and is a much bigger and more stable source of funding for research in the world than potentially what we’ve seen now from the U.S.

TEGAN TAYLOR: We’re talking about university funding and $600 million of funding in doubt because it comes from America and Donald Trump’s administration is asking questions that might not align with some of those research projects…Maddison Williams-Hoffman is a PhD research student at Edith Cowan University. Her research looks at the effects of nuclear testing in the 50s on islands off Western Australia, contamination effects on the marine environment. So environmental kind of broadly there. Maddison, you’re studying for a PhD, that’s the first step on potentially a long pathway. As a researcher, do funding question marks like this make you doubt whether a career in research is feasible for you?

MADDISON WILLIAMS-HOFFMAN: Short answer I would say is yes. The long answer is a little bit more complicated. I think it comes back to how we value or currently value our PhD students here in Australia. Like you said, we’re right at the start of our career and for many of us now in 2024, the average PhD student doesn’t quite look how I think the Australian public thinks they look The average PhD domestic student in Australia who starts as a 34-year-old woman, we have not just our PhD in our research that we love but we have other things as well. We have families that we’re trying to support or we’re just trying to pay rent for ourselves. So, when I consider my future, I’m thinking now at the moment, am I valued in this space that I’m currently in? And if I look at the base award or we call it a stipend that PhD students domestically are given here in Australia for the really, really valuable work that we’re doing now and into the future, it’s kind of like you’ve got to ask the question of is it worth going through that potential financial anxiety and sometimes questions of your worth for such little pay when the so uncertain future.

So long answer is it’s complicated, but I think that if we get better investment from our Federal Government and we better recognise the value that as students we contribute to our research system here in Australia, and that we will be the future professors, teachers, leaders pushing boundaries in 20, 30, 40 years. I think if we can see more support, it’ll give me at least and I think a lot of other students, greater confidence that the time and effort and sweat and tears that we’re putting into this work is really valued by our peers and our community.

TEGAN TAYLOR: Maddison, all the best with the remainder of your PhD and with securing the funding required to do so.

MADDISON WILLIAMS-HOFFMAN: Thank you.

TEGAN TAYLOR: Maddison Williams-Hoffman is a PhD research student at Edith Cowan University, and you also heard from Luke Sheehy, Chief Executive Officer for Universities Australia.

ENDS