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TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN has advised its researchers not to respond to a request for information from the Trump administration on whether there is a “diversity, inclusion and equality element” (DEI) to their work.
It’s not clear whether any Irish researchers have yet received the US communication, aimed at establishing whether US-funded research aligns with the interests of the US government under President Donald Trump, with a number of Irish academic sources telling The Journal they were not aware of specific Irish cases.
However, it’s understood that some Irish researchers are collaborating on projects with colleagues in other countries who have received the questionnaire earlier this month.
The extensive questionnaire, emailed to principal investigators on US-funded projects at European and Australian instititutions, also included questions on whether projects pertained to “climate or environmental justice” or to what the Trump administration calls “gender ideology”, a reference to transgender people.
As reported in the journal Nature, researchers have also been asked to declare their institution’s links with China. The Australian government’s scientific agency is among institutions to have received the information request.
As first reported by the Trinity News student newspaper, Trinity College has told its researchers not to respond if they have received the questionnaire.
An email circulated to research staff states: “Some [principal investigators] may have received an email request from the US government to fill out a questionnaire – likely if you are linked/in receipt of US funding.”
It goes on to advise that Trinity Dean and Vice-President for Research Professor Sinéad Ryan “has directed not to engage with this questionnaire” – with the word ‘not’ in bold and underlined.
Researchers are told to contact Ryan’s office if they have received the email.
A spokeswoman for Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) said that when Irish researchers collaborate with the US, the Irish side of the project is usually funded directly by SFI with the US picking up the tab for their side.
UCD said: “As the survey would have been sent to the individual researchers, we are not in a position to confirm how many US-funded researchers at UCD may have received the request.”
Trinity said its advice to research not to respond to the questionnaire individually was a common approach across “many other universities”.
US president Donald Trump’s anti-inclusion policy orders have already had an impact in Ireland, with accounting firm Accenture, which employs thousands here, ending its equality and diversity programmes.
US universities are threatened with massive federal funding cuts under Donald Trump’s presidency, with research programmes facing closure and faculty and staff facing possible detention and deportation for political views.
Threatened with the loss of $400m (€369m) in federal funding, New York’s Columbia University has agreed to changes demanded by Trump, who accused the Ivy League institution of tolerating anti-Semitism because it allowed Palestinian demonstrations on campus.
Johns Hopkins University, a renowned hub for health research, has announced 2,000 layoffs after losing $800m in federal funding.
The American Association of University Professors have branded the Trump administration’s threats and coercion, particularly at Columbia, “part of a clear authoritarian playbook meant to crush academic freedom”.
With reporting from AFP
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