Brian Martin (born 1947) is a social scientist in the School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, Faculty of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, at the

University of Wollongong The University of Wollongong (UOW) is an Australian public university, public research university located in the coastal city of Wollongong, New South Wales, approximately south of Sydney. , the university had an enrolment of more than 33,000 s ...

(UOW) in NSW, Australia. He was appointed a professor at the university in 2007, and in 2017 was appointed

emeritus professor ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

. His work is in the fields of peace research, scientific controversies,

science and technology studies Science and technology studies (STS) or science, technology, and society is an interdisciplinary field that examines the creation, development, and consequences of science and technology in their historical, cultural, and social contexts. Histo ...

, sociology, political science, media studies, law, journalism,

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

, education and corrupted institutions, as well as research on whistleblowing and

dissent Dissent is an opinion, philosophy or sentiment of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or policy enforced under the authority of a government, political party or other entity or individual. A dissenting person may be referred to as ...

in the context of

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

. Martin was president of Whistleblowers Australia from 1996 to 1999 and remains their International Director. He has been criticized by medical professionals and public health advocates for promoting the disproven oral polio vaccine AIDS hypothesis and supporting vaccine hesitancy in the context of his work. Martin has spoken at a British Science Association Festival of Science, and testified at the Australian Federal Senate's Inquiry into Academic Freedom. The crustacean '' Polycheles martini'' was named after him.

Research and academia

Martin was born in the United States in 1947 and raised in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

. He earned a BA in physics at

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

in Texas in 1969, and, seeking to avoid conscription into the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

, emigrated to Australia, where he earned a PhD in physics at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

in 1976. Martin's original academic field was

theoretical physics Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict List of natural phenomena, natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental p ...

, and he worked in both stratospheric modelling and numerical methods during his career. He has published extensively about the

social dynamics Social dynamics (or sociodynamics) is the study of the behavior of groups and of the interactions of individual group members, aiming to understand the emergence of complex social behaviors among microorganisms, plants and animals, including h ...

and politicisation of controversial scientific topics. His topics of inquiry have included the globalization of polarised science such as the origin of HIV/AIDS. He argues that there are situations in which scientific research that threatens vested interests can be suppressed. He describes a number of direct and indirect mechanisms through which he argues that this can occur, ranging from the denial of funds and the denial of promotion and tenure, through to the creation of a "general climate of fear". Martin's work on in this area has provided what Delborne describes as a "key foundation for conceptualizing scientific dissent". Martin has offered support for the discredited proposal that oral polio vaccine caused AIDS. The hypothesis first came to notice in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' magazine by way of journalist Curtis and AIDS activist Elswood in 1992, and was later further promoted by the journalist/writer Hooper and Martin, with Hooper crediting Martin for giving the OPV-AIDS link hypothesis "further publicity and credibility". Martin disputes the claim that he has been a supporter of the hypothesis, instead saying that he has "never argued in favour of the OPV theory", but has instead stated "that it was and remains worthy of consideration yet in many ways has been unfairly dismissed". A 2016 article in ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

'' described Martin's 2010 paper as claiming "that medical researchers had colluded to silence the theory that the AIDS virus was caused by contaminated polio vaccines in 1950s Africa." Martin has been active in the criticism of university systems. He has criticized conflicts of interest where universities are managing internal investigations that may lead to bad publicity, and recommends having independent groups investigate allegations of misconduct; he has written about the unauthorised use of research produced by students and junior researchers by senior academics; and he has been outspoken against sexual relationships between staff and students. He also reports that any bias within universities could simply be due to students strategically working in-line with the biases of their teachers. Martin was subjected to an attempted academic gag when he published material about the forced retirement of a

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

academic. His university instructed him to remove the content from his website after Adelaide University threatened to sue. Martin's published material in question is now found on other websites. Martin believes that if complainants go through the official channels the outcome is very predictable, in that the organisation's internal grievance procedures, or making a complaint to the relevant ombudsman, does not work. He also believes whistleblower laws do not work, saying; "Not only are whistleblower laws flawed through exemptions and in-built weaknesses but in their implementation they are rarely helpful".

Criticism

In April 2001, Martin published an article in defence of a sacked academic at UOW in the national newspaper ''The Australian.'' In a response published in the same paper, the Vice-Chancellor of

Murdoch University Murdoch University is a public university in Perth, Western Australia, with campuses also in Singapore and Dubai. It began operations as the state's second university on 25 July 1973, and accepted its first undergraduate students in 1975. Its ...

Steven Schwartz accused Martin of a position supporting the concept of a "laissez-faire attitude towards academic freedom (in which all sides are presented impartially)" saying his "approach to academic freedom is neither logical nor practical" as this approach "forces universities to abandon their most cherished values: scholarship, wisdom and truth". Immunologist and research scientist Greg Woods refuted Martin's posit on the Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease stating Martin's 2014 paper in ''The Conversation'' on the theory behind the cancer "misrepresents the state of the science". In 2014, Martin published a paper characterising criticism of Andrew Wakefield's discredited claims about vaccines and autism as "suppression of vaccination dissent". Published online: 23 March 2014. In 2016, an Agence Science-Presse piece accused Martin of defending "the idea of a vaccine-autism link." However, Martin disputes this, saying: "I have never defended this idea." ''

'' reported that "Martin is a former paid member of the anti-vaccine Australian Vaccination Network", and that Martin states that he is also a member of the American Skeptics Society. Martin has been criticised for his role in the Judith Wilyman PhD controversy where medical academics and the AMA raised concerns of whether Martin had the necessary knowledge to assess her doctorate which discussed

vaccine A vaccine is a biological Dosage form, preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease, infectious or cancer, malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verifi ...

science. ''The Australian'' has criticised him as not recognising academic rigour over

academic freedom Academic freedom is the right of a teacher to instruct and the right of a student to learn in an academic setting unhampered by outside interference. It may also include the right of academics to engage in social and political criticism. Academic ...

, and surgeon John Cunningham called on the university to have the thesis "reviewed by people whom have knowledge of vaccinations". In 2016, the

Australian Skeptics Australian Skeptics is a loose confederation of like-minded organisations across Australia that began in 1980. Australian Skeptics investigate paranormal and pseudoscientific claims using science, scientific methodologies. This page covers all A ...

criticised Martin's supervision of Wilyman by presenting Martin, Wilyman and the Social Sciences Department of the University of Wollongong the satirical Bent Spoon Award for awarding "a PhD thesis riddled with errors, misstatements, poor and unsupported 'evidence' and conspiratorial thinking".

Publications

Books

*
Truth tactics
' (Sparsnäs, Sweden: Irene Publishing, 2021) *
Official channels
' (Sparsnäs, Sweden: Irene Publishing, 2020) * Jørgen Johansen and Brian Martin.
Social defence
' (Sparsnäs, Sweden: Irene Publishing, 2019) *
Vaccination panic in Australia
(Sparsnäs, Sweden: Irene Publishing, 2018)'' * ''The deceptive activist'' (Sparsnäs, Sweden: Irene Publishing, 2017). * ''Ruling tactics: methods of promoting everyday nationalism, how they serve rulers and how to oppose them'' (Sparsnäs, Sweden: Irene Publishing, 2017). * ''Nonviolence Unbound'' (Sparsnäs, Sweden: Irene Publishing, 2015). * ''The Controversy Manual'' (Sparsnäs, Sweden: Irene Publishing, 2014). * ''Doing Good Things Better'' (Sparsnäs, Sweden: Irene Publishing, 2013) * ''Justice Ignited: The Dynamics of Backfire'', (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007). * (with Wendy Varney). ''Nonviolence Speaks: Communicating against Repression'', (Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 2003). * ''Nonviolence versus capitalism,'' (London: War Resisters' International, 2001). * ''Technology for Nonviolent Struggle'', (London: War Resisters' International, 2001). * (with Lyn Carson). ''Random Selection in Politics'', (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1999). * ''The Whistleblower's Handbook: How to Be an Effective Resister'', (Charlbury, UK: Jon Carpenter; Sydney: Envirobook, 1999). Updated and republished 2013 as ''Whistleblowing: a practical guide'', (Sparsnäs, Sweden: Irene Publishing) * ''Information Liberation'', (London: Freedom Press, 1998). * ''Tied Knowledge: Power in Higher Education'', (self-published, 1998). * ''Suppression Stories'', (Wollongong: Fund for Intellectual Dissent, 1997). * ''Social Defence, Social Change'', (London: Freedom Press, 1993). * ''Scientific Knowledge in Controversy: The Social Dynamics of the Fluoridation Debate,'' (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991). * (with C. M. Ann Baker, Clyde Manwell & Cedric Pugh) ''Intellectual Suppression: Australian Case Histories, Analysis and Responses,'' (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1986) * ''Uprooting war'', (London: Freedom Press, 1984). * ''The Bias of Science'' (Society for Social Responsibility in Science, 1979)

Journal articles in the physical sciences

His most cited papers are: * * *

References

External links

Personal home page

Brian Martin
University of Wollongong {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Brian 1947 births Living people Australian activists Nonviolence advocates Academic staff of the University of Wollongong Rice University alumni Free speech activists Vaccine hesitancy Criticism of science AIDS origin hypotheses