The Federal Circuit Court has found that James Cook University acted unlawfully in dismissing a physics professor for his criticisms of colleagues' work.

Peter Ridd was sacked last year after he repeatedly questioned the quality of research about the impact of global warming on the Great Barrier Reef.

Former James Cook University professor Peter Ridd.

Dr Ridd had disparaged colleagues' work as untrustworthy and "misleading" in correspondence with a journalist and in television interviews.

Dr Ridd's subsequent legal action against JCU's treatment of him has received significant attention in the media. Because of his outspoken scepticism of climate change science, the example has been at the centre of debate about the state of free speech in academia.