---
title: "Brian Martin (social scientist)"
chunk: 1/2
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Martin_(social_scientist)"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:36:51.577460+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

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 (UOW) in NSW, Australia. He was appointed a professor at the university in 2007, and in 2017 was appointed emeritus professor. His work is in the fields of peace research, scientific controversies, science and technology studies, sociology, political science, media studies, law, journalism, freedom of speech, education and corrupted institutions, as well as research on whistleblowing and dissent in the context of science. 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.

== Biography ==
Martin was born in the United States in 1947 and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He earned a BA in physics at Rice University in Texas in 1969, and, seeking to avoid conscription into the Vietnam War, emigrated to Australia, where he earned a PhD in physics at the University of Sydney in 1976.

== Research and academia ==
Martin's original academic field was theoretical physics, and he worked in both stratospheric modelling and numerical methods during his career. He has published extensively about the social dynamics 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 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 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".

== Controversies ==

=== Academic freedom ===
Martin was subjected to an attempted academic gag when he published material about the forced retirement of a University of Adelaide 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.
In April 2001, Martin published an article in defence of Edward J. Steele, 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 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".