Staff and students at Flinders University have warned of an angry backlash if controversial Danish academic Bjorn Lomborg is allowed to set up a research centre at the Adelaide institution.
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The university has approached the government about potentially hosting the "consensus centre" - a think tank that would use methods similar to those used by Dr Lomberg's Copenhagen centre.
Dr Lomborg is a contentious figure because he argues that the risks of climate change have been overstated and it is more important to tackle problems such as malaria and poverty - though he accepts the science of human-induced climate change.
The University of Western Australia backed out of a plan to host the centre in May after academics questioned whether Dr Lomborg, who was hand-picked by Prime Minister Tony Abbott, had the right qualifications.
The Danish researcher is the author of The Skeptical Environmentalist, which purports to challenge "widely held beliefs that the global environment is progressively getting worse".
The Abbott government conceived the idea for the centre and pledged $4 million towards it. It would research solutions to problems such as poverty, social justice and food sustainability.
Flinders University student president James Vigus said staff and students would be "very concerned" by the university's interest.
"I believe the overwhelming number of staff and students here believe the risk of climate change is real, and $4 million of scarce public funding should be spent on other academic research such as looking at how we can solve the climate crisis," he said.
Mr Vigus said the centre would complement the "government agenda which is to downplay the significance of climate change".
He said staff and students should make the decision on whether to host the centre, adding "there will be demonstrations if staff and students don't ultimately have a say" on the matter.
In May, UWA vice-chancellor Paul Johnson cancelled the contract for the centre, saying "the scale of the strong and passionate emotional reaction was one that the university did not predict".
National Tertiary Education Union South Australian secretary Kevin Rouse said Flinders University staff feared the reputational damage the centre would bring – concerns similar to those held by UWA staff.
"Courting someone with $4 million to come up with a result that will please the current government is the underlying tension," he said.
"People are concerned about … the academic integrity of the research that would be conducted."
Student adviser Ron Slee, who is also president of the NTEU Flinders University branch, said academics were "quite dismayed" at the centre proposal.
"It looks like a federal government think tank that's paid for by the federal government [and] set up to do work for the federal government," he said.
"We are not a government department. We are independent and we fiercely guard that independence."
A Flinders University spokeswoman said discussions have been held among groups of academics "regarding the possibility of any future collaboration with the Copenhagen Consensus Centre in addressing a number of major research questions of our time".
"Similar discussions have most likely occurred in other universities around the country," she said.
Flinders University had approached the Department of Education for information but was yet to form a position on the matter, she said.
The office of Education Minister Christopher Pyne has not responded to request for comment. News Corp reported on Friday that a spokesman for Mr Pyne confirmed talks with Flinders were at an early stage.
Comment has been sought from Dr Lomborg.
