December 05, 2024

Marsden Fund changes spark researcher backlash

Atereano Mateariki Posted On December 5, 2024

Atereano Mateariki Nicola Gaston | Marsden Fund changes spark researcher backlash

Co-director of the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Nicola Gaston, says the reallocation of Marsden research funding is a slight to researchers.

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Co-director of the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Nicola Gaston, says the reallocation of Marsden research funding is a slight to researchers.

Yesterday, Minister of Science, Innovation, and Technology Judith Collins announced changes to the Marsden research funding criteria, stating that 50% of grants awarded must contribute to economic productivity.

Gaston says the grants face ill-advised scrutiny because they involve $300,000 to $1 million.

However, the funding is divided into thirds, with 80-90% of each year’s overheads supporting researchers, while the rest covers scholarships and other expenses.

She says the disestablishment of social science and humanities panels, is a personal attack on researchers whose work critiques government policy.

“The fact that what the government has now cut is a lot of the work that potentially critiques the government means that this is a really big academic freedom issue. This is the government undermining a big part of how our society works,” says Gaston.