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'How is Research Dangerous?': A Study of Australian Universities and Research Security Incidents
Journal article   Open access

'How is Research Dangerous?': A Study of Australian Universities and Research Security Incidents

Brendan Walker-Munro and Abi Young
The University of Queensland Law Journal, Vol.First online
25/02/2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38127/uqlj.v44i3.16015
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'How is Research Dangerous?'View
Published (Version of record)CC BY-NC-ND V4.0,  Open

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Abstract

The performance of scientific and technological research has always been done openly, collaboratively and with the widest scope of international cooperation. However, recent moves by autocratic nations to exploit the standards of openness displayed by Western universities and research institutions has fuelled the emergence of ‘research security’, a domain invoking the protection of sensitive, classified or economically valuable knowledge and technologies from espionage, theft, interference and illicit transfers. Australia — once considered a ‘first mover’ by criminalising foreign interference and university espionage in 2018 — has since languished in legal and policy restrictions on research security. In some part, this is due to an unwillingness by academia to recognise that national security threats to the research enterprise are real. Therefore, this paper seeks to empirically examine live cases of research incidents from Australian institutions obtained from Freedom of Information requests. Building on those case studies, the paper then seeks to argue that Australian (and indeed global) academia is still a fundamental target for foreign adversaries seeking to expand or mature their technological and industrial bases through illicit means.

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