In 2019, the Australian Catholic University (ACU) established the Dianoia Institute of Philosophy and staffed it with leading researchers recruited from international universities. It was a glowing success. Previously, ACU’s philosophy program was unranked. But thanks to the institute, it became the third-highest-ranked philosophy program in Australasia and the thirty-second highest in the English-speaking world.

As political scientist Kyle Peyton has noted, this move was part of a broader commitment to research that saw ACU establish several research institutes over the last decade. The result has been a dramatic improvement in the university’s research output and reputation.

In September 2023, however, just four years after establishing the Dianoia Institute, Vice-Chancellor Zlatko Skrbis blindsided staff by proposing to completely disestablish the institute and make its academics redundant. In addition, thirty-five academic jobs in history, political science, and religious studies are also on the chopping block. Add these to two rounds of job losses earlier this year that saw forty-four full-time equivalent positions cut, and it makes for a total of around 150 jobs lost.