The National University of Ireland (NUI) senate awarded a higher doctorate to a US-based academic despite concerns over his past tobacco industry links.
Higher doctorates recognise significant published work in a field, which academics must pay several thousand euro to apply for.
Dr Daniel Ennis, an Irish-born academic who previously worked for US tobacco giant Philip Morris, had applied for a higher doctorate of science.
The discovery of his links to the tobacco industry during the application process gave rise to an “unprecedented” situation for the NUI, minutes of senate meetings seen by The Irish Times show.
The senate is the governing body of the NUI, including University College Dublin, University College Cork, Maynooth University and NUI Galway.
In the early 1990s, Dr Ennis co-ordinated Philip Morris’s internal “Cosmic” project, which saw academics produce research on smoking trends. One of its strategies was to “fund and monitor research to define the benefits of smoking to smokers,” company documents made public during US court cases show.
Dr Ennis was awarded the company’s “distinguished scientist award” in 1991. He left Philip Morris after 15 years to set up a think tank called the Institute for Perception in 1994, but continued to conduct research funded by the tobacco firm for several years, documents show.
He completed his undergraduate degree in agricultural science in UCD, and later a PhD in University of Maryland in 1975.
‘Ground-breaking’ work
Higher doctorates are the highest degrees awarded by the NUI to academics who have published a “substantial body of ground-breaking” work in a field.
The cost of applying is €3,500 for academics not working in NUI universities and small numbers of applications are received annually.
The NUI process includes an examination of an applicant’s published work, and reviews by two external assessors.
In January 2019, the senate discussed external assessments completed for four applicants, including Dr Ennis.
At a May 2019 meeting, minutes state, Maynooth University president Prof Philip Nolan had "uncovered significant additional information" on Dr Ennis's application, which is understood to have been his past links to the tobacco industry.
NUI chancellor Maurice Manning said the information "had raised serious questions" over awarding the degree, and the situation was "unprecedented".
The NUI “could not have been aware of the background to the case and the ethical considerations” which it posed, Dr Manning told the meeting.
Legal advice from Eileen Barrington SC, presented at a November 2019 meeting, said the NUI was “empowered not to award the degree,” but Dr Ennis should be given a chance to respond to the concerns raised.
The matter was then left without a decision being made until this January, when the senate awarded Dr Ennis the higher doctorate of science (DSc).
Announcing the decision, the NUI said Dr Ennis was an authority “in the domain of sensory studies and mathematical psychology”.
When asked if he felt his work with Philip Morris raised ethical concerns, Dr Ennis told The Irish Times he had “contributed original research” to a number of different areas, “including quantitative psychology and the chemical senses”.
“I responded to the criticism that I worked in the tobacco industry in the past and the senate agreed to confer the DSc,” he said.
NUI registrar Dr Attracta Halpin said the degree had been awarded "having established on the basis of advice from international experts that Dr Ennis fully satisfied the criteria".
