Woodside Energy’s partnership with Monash University to end after protests by staff and students | Woodside

A contentious partnership between Monash University and Woodside Energy is to end following a campaign by staff and students over concerns about the relationship, but discussions about future collaborations continue.

Monash University vice-chancellor Prof Sharon Pickering appeared at a Senate committee hearing examining the university’s governance on Wednesday and confirmed the current partnership would end “at the end of this year”.

“This has become very clear through our communications with our wider community. [that] They expect us to work in line with our values ​​and actually always build a good partnership,” Pickering said.

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The institution is “committed to academic freedom” but also “works in alignment with the values ​​of our university and our community,” Pickering said, adding that faculty within the engineering school “continue to look at all types of partnership work.” […] whether that be with Woodside or others.”

“Our expectation in any future partnership arrangement is that it will be aligned with our ESG [environmental and sustainability goals] our statements and our responsible partnership framework,” he said.

The current partnership agreement, in place since 2019, has seen Woodside pay Monash University $43 million over seven years, giving the company naming rights to an award-winning, ultra-sustainable building at one of the university’s Melbourne campuses. It was supposed to expire at the end of this year.

The arrangement became controversial; In June, staff and students raised concerns about a Woodside-backed climate conference at Monash’s Prato campus in Italy, which included Coalition MP Tim Wilson.

The university’s academic board was notified that the partnership in its current form would not be renewed Tuesday afternoon and that the Woodside Technology and Design Building would be renamed in 2026.

In separate statements, Monash and Woodside said the decision was “mutual and respectful” and that the engineering school was “well advanced in discussions with Woodside about future areas of collaboration.”

“The engineering faculty will continue to be supported to pursue future research and industry collaborations in line with our ESG commitments, our Responsible Partnership Framework and academic freedom,” a Monash spokesperson said.

A Woodside spokesperson said they “will continue to explore ways to build on their decade-long research partnership by focusing on shared priorities.”

“Woodside and Monash continue to discuss opportunities for the future phase of the research partnership,” the company said.

Ben Eltham, president of the Monash branch of the National Tertiary Education Union, described the partnership as a “dirty deal” and welcomed its end.

“Monash University was running glossy advertising campaigns about ‘endangered species’ while the university was receiving tens of millions from a fossil fuel company that was causing this danger,” he said.

Staff and students involved in the campaign to end the partnership described its end as both a relief and validation, despite what they described as efforts by the university to thwart attempts to obtain even basic information about what the partnership involved.

They added that Monash’s commitment to ESG policies would make it difficult to legitimize future collaborations and said they would continue to work to achieve a full separation between the university and fossil fuels.

Monash University climate science student Carina Griffin, who started Stop Woodside Monash, a campaign group pressing for the institution to end its partnership with Woodside, said the decision showed Monash had “finally decided to listen to staff and students”.