VC Peter Hoj outlines how Adelaide Uni combats foreign influence, cyber attacks

Vice Chancellor Peter Hoj has spoken about the uni’s approach to foreign influence and protecting its valuable research from hackers and spies.

New vice-chancellor of the University of Adelaide Peter Hoj. Picture: Mark Brake

Adelaide University’s new Vice Chancellor Peter Hoj says the university is ramping up efforts to prevent foreign influence and protect research from cyber criminals and spies.

The university, which has deep, long-term research ties with the Defence Department, is now requiring all staff to sign “foreign engagement declarations”.

Staff must reveal if and how they are working with other countries on research projects outside of those arranged by the university.

The declarations, introduced in June 2020, must be updated annually and reveal any gifts, subsidised travel, research sponsorships or other financial benefits staff have received through those projects.

Professor Hoj said the university had “increasing interaction” with federal government agencies such as Home Affairs over foreign interference, after a University Foreign Interference Taskforce was announced in 2019.

“We are on an escalating journey of interactions with government agencies,” Prof Hoj said on Friday while appearing before a parliamentary inquiry into the national security risks faced by Australia’s education sector.

“They have been very helpful in reaching out to us.”

Prof Hoj cautioned Australia should be careful about how it protects against foreign influence, and couldn’t shut off all engagement.

“What we think we can run a danger of is to say, ‘We recognise the world has changed, there is a challenge we have to meet, we come out with a big hammer but everything looks like nails,” he said.

Prof Hoj said there should be “high fences” around the research that should only be shared with allies, and more open measures for topics such as “beating a pandemic” that “require us to collaborate very readily and very swiftly”.

Prof Hoj was also grilled about his previous role as Vice Chancellor of the University of Queensland in regards to the university’s handling of Brisbane activist Drew Pavlou, who was given a two-year suspension over protests regarding China.

Queensland anti-China activist student Drew Pavlou at the University of Adelaide’s O Week. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Prof Hoj reiterated that he had no role in the disciplinary process, and noted the matter was before the Supreme Court of Queensland.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Anton Middelberg said there were “constant cyber attacks” on the university through “increasingly sophisticated methods”, and it was strengthening its systems.

Prof Middelberg said almost all staff had now completed foreign engagement declarations.

The university has also launched compliance reviews for research with projects with foreign institutes.

About 10 per cent of almost 400 projects submitted for review were rejected.