The Trump administration told Australian university researchers a push to promote administration priorities and avoid “DEI, woke gender ideology and the green new deal” was behind a “temporary pause” of funding, according to a memo seen by Guardian Australia.
University sector sources say the US has severed research funding at six universities – Monash University, Australian National University (ANU) and the University of Melbourne, University of Sydney, University of New South Wales and University of Western Australia – since Donald Trump came to power, including some as early as January. ANU is the first university to publicly acknowledged it.
The projects, which spanned a range of topics from agriculture to foreign aid, social science and geology, were cancelled pending a review as part of US higher education cuts. Some notifications came directly from US government agencies to researchers.
A memo sent to an Australian university project on 27 January on behalf of the US office of management and budget notifying a “temporary pause” of agency funding said the executive branch had a “duty to align federal spending and action with the will of the American people”.
“Financial assistance should be dedicated to advancing Administration priorities, focusing taxpayer dollars to advance a stronger and safer America, eliminating the financial burden of inflation for citizens, unleashing American energy and manufacturing, ending ‘wokeness’ and the weaponization of government, promoting efficiency in government, and Making America Healthy Again,” the memo said.
“The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve.”
The memo said each US federal agency must complete a comprehensive analysis of its federal financial assistance to identify programs, projects, and activities that may be implicated by any of the president’s executive orders.
“In the interim, to the extent permissible under applicable law, Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.”
In an email sent to staff on Tuesday, the ANU vice-chancellor, Genevieve Bell, confirmed the university had its “first termination of funding” from the US. According to sources, it was related to a social science project.
“It is hard to ignore the broader contexts in which we are operating – a looming federal election and a growing complexity of geo-political forces impacting us here in Australia,” she wrote. “We are committed to supporting our researchers and the work we do here, in all the ways we can.”
The Universities Australia CEO, Luke Sheehy, told ABC Canberra Drive on Wednesday it was a “worrying trend” to see funding pulled from the “biggest foreign partner that we have”.
“Our greatest research partner in the US is looking like it’s becoming unreliable,” he said. “This is an important and alarming development … we want to make sure that the Australian government provides us a pathway and some clarity on what we should do next.”
Sheehy said US funding accounted for more than $400m in 2024 alone – equivalent to around half the funding the federal government provideed in research grants via the Australian Research Council.
Sheehy urged the government to join Horizon Europe, which he described as one of the “biggest sources of funding for research on the planet”, as the US became increasingly unreliable.
The seven-year scientific collaborative research fund, with a budget of €95.5bn, has 20 non-European partners, including New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Canada.
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Last week, the Trump administration was accused of “blatant foreign interference” in Australia’s universities after researchers who receive US funding were sent a questionnaire asking to confirm they aligned with US government interests.
Sources have told Guardian Australia that researchers from at least 13 universities have received the questionnaires.
The Group of Eight CEO, Vicki Thomson, wrote to the industry minister, Ed Husic, this week on behalf of its member universities and the European Australian Business Council (EABC) CEO, Jason Collins, urging Australia to associate with Horizon Europe.
“Given the recent action taken by the Trump Administration regarding funding for collaborative research projects, we believe association to Horizon Europe is now vital,” she wrote. “This, coupled with a surge in protectionist trade and industrial policies, impose a direct harm on Australian industry.”
Thomson, also the EABC deputy chair, has consistently lobbied the government to join Horizon Europe since 2020.
The government has not given a reason for refusing to join the program, but industry insiders have attributed it to potential costs. Last year, a spokesperson for Husic said Labor had “no plans” to reconsider it.
The Australian Academy of Science president, Prof Chennupati Jagadish AC, urged the government to give “serious and urgent attention” to American authorities’ actions or risk being “dangerously unprepared” for the consequences.
Amercians make up 40% of collaborators in Australian physical sciences publications – including observational systems relied on for cyclone tracking capability and onshore mRNA vaccine manufacturing.
Jagadish said the government must “immediately act to diversify risk” by expanding international research collaborations, focusing on Horizon Europe.
“The consequences of inaction are profound,” he said. “The Australian government must be prepared to respond to restrictions that could flow from these initiatives, and to do so via consultation with the science and technology sector.”
The foreign minister, Penny Wong, Husic and the minister for education, Jason Clare, were approached for comment.
