THE Baillieu government has been trying to blackmail the University of Melbourne into overseeing its controversial alpine grazing trial by threatening to withdraw millions of dollars in research funding.

In a move that has been heavily criticised by the university’s senior ranks, the government has warned the School of Land and Environment to reconsider its concerns about managing the trial in light of a government contract ‘‘worth millions of dollars annually’’ to the faculty.

In a series of emails, obtained by The Sunday Age, the university wrote to the Department of Sustainability and Environment in late January to express its concerns over the trial, designed to measure if cattle grazing cuts fire risk in the Alpine National Park.

‘‘Much of the work that is being proposed has already been done,’’ wrote the acting head of the school, associate professor Gerd Bossinger.

In his email, Dr Bossinger said previous studies had found the incidence of fire in the high country was not cut by cattle grazing.