‘Tricky ethical space': endometriosis centre funded by family with links to poker machine giant divides experts
But other university staff cite a 'moral obligation' to immediately use the money to ease the suffering of roughly 1 million Australian women living with endometriosis, rather than wait for 'perfect funding sources'.
The University of New South Wales announced in May it had secured a 10-year funding commitment from the Ainsworth family to establish the 'world-first' Ainsworth Endometriosis Research Institute, which aims to 'accelerate breakthroughs in diagnosis and create precision-based treatments'.
According to the university, three generations of the Ainsworth family have supported the initiative, including Len Ainsworth, who founded what became the world's largest poker machines manufacturer, Aristocrat Leisure, in 1958. Len Ainsworth also founded Ainsworth Game Technology, a smaller poker machine manufacturer.
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The institute's creation has been praised by academics and public health campaigners who are simultaneously concerned by the damaged caused by poker machines in Australia. In the first three months of this year, NSW residents lost an average of $24m a day to the state's nearly 90,000 machines.
Andrew Hayen, a professor of biostatistics at University of Technology Sydney, described endometriosis as 'an area of women's health that is long overdue for investment' but also sought to raise 'uncomfortable questions' about 'the ethics of investment'.
'Poker machines are a key driver of gambling addiction, financial distress, family violence and mental ill health,' Hayen said in a LinkedIn post. 'These harms are not abstract. They are experienced every day by individuals and families, many of them women.
'There is no doubt that more funding is urgently needed for endometriosis research. But accepting philanthropic donations sourced from an industry built on public harm creates a troubling contradiction.
'It is hard to imagine any university in Australia today accepting donations from the tobacco industry. We should apply a similar level of scrutiny here.'
Akeel Feroz, a manager of partnerships and innovation at UNSW Canberra who was not involved in the fundraising negotiations, said Hayen had raised 'a valid concern' but said 'our moral obligation must be to the patients suffering today'.
'The women waiting years for diagnosis don't have the luxury of perfect funding sources, they need solutions now,' Feroz said. 'With proper research safeguards in place, this funding could have a tremendous positive impact on the lives of women.'
Kate Da Costa, who leads Wesley Mission's gambling advocacy, said the charity had refused to accept philanthropy linked to poker machines as 'we can't campaign to minimise gambling harm while taking their money'.
'Although it's a very tricky ethical space to start to navigate, those of us in gambling reform can take heart that at least the conversations are now under way,' Da Costa said in response to Hayen's post on LinkedIn.
A UNSW spokesperson said it had accepted the philanthropic support in 'good faith' with the 'expectation and intention' the contribution would positively affect the university.
'All donations are assessed per the UNSW gift acceptance policy, which considers reputational, ethical and legal factors,' they said.
The spokesperson said over the past decade the support of the Ainsworth family had enabled a range of initiatives including cancer research scholarships, student facilities and engineering teaching and learning spaces – including the university's the Ainsworth Building, which hosts its engineering department.
Other academics, including Poppy Watson from the University of Technology Sydney, said the partnership demonstrated the state of academic and research funding in Australia.
'Sadly, with the current funding decline for science in Australia, all universities and the government see philanthropic investment as the best possible way to continue funding scientific research,' Watson said. 'In reality, aren't most incredibly wealthy donors rich off someone else's back?'
Four Ainsworth family members listed by the UNSW as contributors are directors of the newly created Grevillea Foundation, which helped establish the institute at UNSW and seeks to 'transform the lives of those affected by endometriosis today and into the future'.
Grevillea Foundation and its directors were contacted for comment.
Roughly 1 million Australian women are living with endometriosis and often experience lengthy delays and frustration before they are properly diagnosed, according to the not-for-profit charity EndoActive.
The condition causes 40,000 hospital admissions each year and it says hundreds of thousands of other women are regularly in pain.
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