The University of Cambridge has broken off talks with the United Arab Emirates over a ?400 million partnership following revelations about the Gulf state¡¯s use of hacking software.

The collaboration, initially announced in July, was described as a ¡°potential strategic partnership¡± aimed at ¡°helping to solve some of the greatest challenges facing our planet¡±. reported that the UAE would donate ?312 million to Cambridge as part of the deal.

However, vice-chancellor Stephen Toope said that the talks had been cancelled in light of the UAE¡¯s reported ties to the Pegasus spyware programme.

reported in July that the UAE had been the ¡°principal government¡± responsible for selecting hundreds of UK telephone numbers on a leaked list believed to show people of interest to clients of NSO Group, the Israeli company that produces the software?that can hack into and secretly take control of a mobile phone.

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Earlier this month a High Court judge ruled that the ruler of Dubai and prime minister of UAE, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, was implicated in the hacking of phones belonging to his former wife, Princess Haya Bint al-Hussein, and her divorce lawyer, Conservative peer Baroness Shackleton of Belgravia.

Professor Toope told student newspaper that there were ¡°no conversations about a big project [with the UAE]. It¡¯s all on hold for now.¡±

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¡°The revelations about Pegasus caused us to decide that it¡¯s not the right time to be pursuing these kinds of really ambitious plans with the UAE,¡± the vice-chancellor said in an interview.

News of the potential collaboration between Cambridge and the UAE triggered criticism, amid concern about UAE¡¯s record on human rights and the rights of women and LGBT people in particular.

Professor Toope told Varsity: ¡°Will we ever engage with these conversations in the future with a whole range of countries who don¡¯t share our values? I¡¯m sure we will, but I hope we¡¯ll be doing it with our eyes wide open and with a rigorous assessment which says that the need to collaborate is greater than the risks that we¡¯re willing to undertake and how do we mitigate those risks. And, if we can¡¯t mitigate them, we absolutely shouldn¡¯t engage.¡±

NSO has denied that the numbers in the leaked list are related to it in any way, or that it targeted the numbers on the list.

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A Cambridge spokesman said: ¡°The University of Cambridge has numerous partnerships with governments and organisations around the world. It approached the United Arab Emirates as it does all potential partnerships: with an open mind, and rigorously weighing the opportunities to contribute to society ¨C through collaborative research, education and innovation ¨C against any challenges.

¡°These are always finely balanced assessments. We will be reflecting over the next few months before further evaluating our long-term options with our partners and with the university community.¡±

chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com