---
title: "Judy Wilyman"
chunk: 1/5
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Wilyman"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:37:17.425529+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

Roslyn Judith "Judy" Wilyman is an Australian anti-vaccination activist who came to prominence following the controversial award of a humanities PhD titled "A critical analysis of the Australian government's rationale for its vaccination policy" by University of Wollongong. The thesis came under heavy criticism from multiple directions, including medical professionals, due to claims within the thesis, including advancing a conspiracy theory whereby the World Health Organization (WHO) and the pharmaceutical industry supposedly conspire to promote vaccinations in the absence of evidence of safety and efficacy. The awarding of the degree created questions about the standards being applied and whether or not the thesis supervisors and examiners had sufficient knowledge to oversee the research, and led to calls for the university to review the doctorate. A number of individuals and medical organisations – including academics and researchers from other parts of the University of Wollongong – spoke out against the findings of the thesis, emphasising the need for vaccinations in order to prevent serious disease; and the University of Wollongong was criticised for a perceived lack of transparency in their doctoral process and an alleged failure to uphold standards of scholarship.
The thesis was conducted from within the university's School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, under the primary supervision of cultural studies professor Brian Martin and the co-supervision of sociologist Andrew Whelan. Although describing himself as "hardly a neutral observer", Martin argued that the questions raised about the work equate to biased attacks on Wilyman and himself. The university responded to the criticism by asserting that the research was conducted and examined under high standards, and spoke in defence of academic freedom. The University of Wollongong also agreed to conduct a review into their overall doctoral process, but the scope did not include specific PhD recipients, and therefore did not address Wilyman's work.
Prior to the PhD, Wilyman had already received some attention for her assertion that the parents of Dana McCaffery, a child who died of pertussis, has "cashed in" on their daughter's death following the award of a prize to the McCafferys by Australian Skeptics – they had donated the money to charity.
More recently, she has been criticised for speaking at anti-vaccination events and for charging large sums for "expert reports" in court cases, despite having no medical qualifications.

== Background ==
Judith Wilyman was awarded a Masters by University of Wollongong (UOW) in 2007 in the Faculty of Law, Humanities and the Arts; her thesis topic was the Australian government's pertussis vaccine policy. Her thesis alleges a connection between vaccinations and autism, a claim that was already convincingly refuted, and false claims that vaccines do not control whooping cough.
By 2009, Wilyman was a member of the Australian Vaccination-risks Network (AVN), an anti-vaccination group, and coordinates two anti-vaccination groups; Vaccination Decisions and Vaccination Choice.
In 2011 Wilyman opposed the cancer-preventing HPV vaccination saying evidence about the vaccine's benefits were not clear, and it was reported that she claimed that vaccinations are linked to autism. HPV vaccination has significantly reduced rates of cervical cancer, and is thought to have the potential to eliminate it altogether.
In 2012 she caused controversy after the death of a child from whooping cough, questioning "whether the family had been paid to use their daughter's death to promote vaccine", causing the family of the deceased to request that Wilyman not use their daughter's death in furthering her agenda.
In 2013, the Australian Medical Association (AMA) criticised the university's decision to fund Wilyman to attend a conference in the US. Wilyman was provided with $3,000 by the university to present a paper opposing human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations. The conference was organised by predatory open access publishing company OMICS Publishing Group, which has also been criticised for running predatory meetings with no effective standards for speaker selection. In response to the criticism of Wilyman's trip, the university's Dean of Research, Tim Marchant, stated that the university upheld the principles of academic freedom and, accordingly, it was important to support Wilyman and the presentation of differing viewpoints, even when they were controversial. Brian Martin, who was supervising Wilyman's research, also supported the decision, arguing that attending the conference was a valuable experience for Wilyman.
Questions of misconduct concerning Wilyman's Masters thesis were raised in 2014, and were investigated and cleared in 2015.
The Australian reported that "Wilyman [was] shielded from critics" by the university in 2014 when their media office refused a request to promote the 44th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australasian Society for Immunology, to be held at a Novotel Hotel in Wollongong. The reason given was that, if the conference "will be discussing vaccinations, we should steer well clear of doing any publicity. We don't want to inflame any opponents of ... Judy Wilyman." According to the university, they were attempting to limit "the vicious and repeated attacks being directed ... towards a then student"