Colleges & universities

Newcastle University Awards Controversial Sustainability Professorship

Is this billionaire-backed greenwashing or real-world expertise the classroom needs?

Published SEP 25

Newcastle University Awards Controversial Sustainability Professorship

Story

Above: Anant Ambani with his father, Mukesh Ambani, in Mumbai on July 12, 2024. Image credit: Punit Paranjpe/AFP/Getty Images

The Facts

Newcastle University faced criticism Thursday over awarding a professorship of practice in sustainability to Anant Ambani, the 31-year-old son of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani and founder of the Vantara wildlife centre in Gujarat.
DesiBlitz
The Hindu
The university announced the appointment on Sept. 14, saying it recognised Ambani's work in conservation, biodiversity protection, animal welfare and environmental stewardship, plus his role leading Reliance's shift toward green energy.
Dhaka Stream
Deccan Herald
Malay Mail
Historian Ramachandra Guha called the selection "a rather mystifying choice" and said he could name at least 50 people better qualified, including soil scientists, ecologists and community forest workers.
The Telegraph
Deccan Herald
Vantara spans 3,500 acres near the family's oil refining operations in Jamnagar and reportedly houses more than 150,000 animals, including 200 lions, 250 leopards and 900 crocodiles. It has never been found guilty of wrongdoing.
LBC
The Guardian
A 2025 investigation by German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported that animals allegedly reached Vantara through countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo and the United Arab Emirates. India's Supreme Court later cleared the operators.
NewsGram
DesiBlitz
The Siasat Daily
A fact-finding mission concluded that some import permits were probably forged. Vantara announced an operational reset in August, pausing live-animal imports until June of next year.
Education Times
Billionaires Africa

Sources Split

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CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

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PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Narrative A

Handing a sustainability professorship to a billionaire heir whose main qualification is a private menagerie essentially turns academic honor into a purchase order. Fortunes built on fossil fuel deals and political connections don't get laundered clean by a ceremony in a historic hall. Universities that sell prestige to the ultra-rich hollow out the credibility of every serious climate researcher on staff.

Seema Chishti on X

Ashok Swain on X

Narrative B

A professorship of practice exists precisely to bring real-world practitioners into the classroom, and rescuing abused and endangered animals at scale counts as real-world work. Leading a massive corporate shift toward solar, green hydrogen and carbon capture is the kind of applied expertise no lecture hall can replicate. Snobbery about wealth is a poor substitute for judging results.

Newcastle University