The Royal Society of New Zealand has published their paper Threats to Research Funding in New Zealand. As you would expect from them, the paper is well reasoned, constructive and proposes “a framework that is strategic, enduring, and focused on sustaining critical capability in New Zealand.” But lets be blunt, the two major threats to research in New Zealand is a Government not investing and focusing relentlessly on the short term – in deed if not word.
There has been no significant investment by the Government since the Stephen Joyce Budget in 2017. That increase has run out now. If every time you get a grant your capacity to do research falls, and if you don’t get a grant your career ends, you can’t do good work. You want researchers to collaborate and play nicely? Restructuring won’t help: Babe, it’s rats in a barrel down there, and we are lucky researchers are as committed to making things work as they are or we’d be in worse trouble already.
The major role of government research funding is to build up the people and the expertise needed to address the issues the country faces. If you don’t build that base and just chase current issues, you run the risk of not being able to solve the issues at hand and you certainly won’t be able to solve the next set. Set industry up to solve their own problems (or at least pay for their own window dressing) by all means but build they base they can draw on.
Our research system is coasting on past investment in building knowledge. It will come to a stop soon without more investment and a funding system that builds depth with money for both the short and the long term.
I liked the Pillar Investment Plans (more when I have time). In amongst the Minister-placating stuff there is good work on strategic investments, infrastructure and capacity building.
This isn’t reflected in the current Transition Funding round and it won’t be in whatever follows unless there is more money and a Government commitment to a diverse research base. New Zealand is a weird little place and the only way we get investment in our future is from powerful Ministers who can see more than 3 years ahead – Simon Upton, Pete Hodgson, Steve Maharey, Stephen Joyce for example.
I’m looking around: it’s not encouraging.
And it is great to see the Royal Society Report out before the Election. I was worried they would hold it back. It’s hard not to fall back on unnecessarily gendered and wholly inappropriate metaphors but I’m glad they found them, and I hope they’ll keep hold of them, because they’ll need them.
