James Cook University

James Cook University   (University)
Motto	James Cook University.png
Formation	1961
Headquarters	Cairns, Townsville, Queensland, Australia
Type	Public
Australian university invested in the climate change agenda, and firing academics if they disagree.

James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cairns and Townsville, and one in the city state of Singapore. JCU also has study centres in Mount Isa, Mackay, Thursday Island and Rockhampton. A Brisbane campus, operated by Russo Higher Education, delivers undergraduate and postgraduate courses to international and domestic students. The university's main fields of research include environmental sciences, biological sciences, mathematical sciences, earth sciences, agricultural and veterinary sciences, technology and medical and health sciences.

Peter Ridd

In 2018, the university fired professor Peter Ridd after he cast doubt on the claim that the Great Barrier Reef was dying., on the spurious charge of refusing to take down confidential information which he had placed publicly online. The university denied that the dismissal was over Ridd's views. Ridd filed two lawsuits, the second over the dismissal.

On 16 April 2019, Ridd initially won the lawsuit, with James Cook University found to be in violation of the Fair Work Act 2009; in September 2019, Ridd was awarded in excess of AU$1 million, together with AU$125,000 pecuniary penalty. While the two parties continue to disagree whether the case related to academic freedom, the ruling judge said the case was "purely and simply about the proper construction of a clause in an enterprise agreement", although he also stated James Cook University had "not understood the whole concept of intellectual freedom".

In July 2020, JCU won an appeal against this judgement from the full bench of the Federal Court. Ridd appealed to the High Court of Australia, but that appeal was dismissed.

Scientific fraud

In May 2021, the American publication Science Magazine had made claims in relation to scientific fraud involving 22 papers linked to James Cook University’s Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. The Australian Research Council, the US National Science Foundation and JCU had been asked to investigate the allegations. The article supported by the international Science Fund for Investigative Reporting, is the culmination of years of research and contested claims over how fish behaviour is changed by rising levels of carbon dioxide in the oceans. Researchers claimed to have evidence of manipulation in publicly available raw data files for two papers, one published in Science Magazine, the other in Nature Climate Change, combined with large and “statistically impossible” effects from CO₂ reported in many of the other papers.

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