Humanities expelled from key New Zealand research funding scheme

New Zealand scientists are in uproar over the government’s decision to ban the humanities and social sciences (Hass) from its main funding scheme for basic research, the Marsden Fund, and to prioritise projects with “economic benefits” for the country.

Science minister Judith Collins said the focus of the scheme, which allocates almost NZ$80 million (£37 million) a year to research projects of up to three years’ duration, would be “science with a purpose”.

“The government has been clear in its mandate to rebuild our economy,” she said. “Real impact on our economy will come from areas such as physics, chemistry, maths, engineering and biomedical sciences.”

The strongest objections have come from researchers in the favoured areas. Nicola Gaston, co-director of the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, said she was “disgusted” that physical scientists’ work was being “weaponised” against humanities and social sciences colleagues.

“We can do all the work in developing clean technologies we want, but if we don’t understand the barriers to people purchasing that tech it becomes useless,” she said. “In any case, can it really be any more esoteric than quantum physics?”

Professor Gaston said economically oriented research was “already privileged” in New Zealand, with access to funding sources that were unavailable to other disciplines. The Marsden Fund had been the only source operating “even-handedly across disciplines”.

She said that while current reviews of universities and the science system could “change the overall equation” for humanities and social science research funding, their recommendations were yet to be revealed.

Universities New Zealand said it had contributed to the two reviews in good faith. “We know that government has to be able to defend where taxpayer money is going...but the answer is not to cut out Hass from the Marsden Fund. In a time of societal upheaval, government disinvestment in these disciplines is astonishing.”

The Science Media Centre said research in “subjects like nursing, law and archaeology” would be affected. University of Auckland microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles said she was “horrified”.

“If the pandemic taught me anything, it was how valuable our Hass scholars and researchers are. Yes, ‘science’ developed new vaccines in seemingly record time…but it’s not scientists who understand how best to vaccinate people and what barriers might be faced,” she said.

University of Otago historian Grace Moore said she had seen the tangible benefits of “truly well-funded humanities research” while working for Australia’s Centre for the History of Emotions, which worked with bushfire-affected communities.

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“The Hass sectors in…New Zealand have been seriously underfunded for decades, yet still produce world-class research. Just imagine the contribution both fields could make if they were more highly valued,” she said.

Ms Collins said that while 50 per cent of funds would go towards projects with economic benefits for the nation, research with environmental or health benefit would also be supported. “The Marsden Fund will continue to support blue-skies research, the type that advances new ideas and encourages innovation and creativity and where the benefit may not be immediately apparent,” she said.

The new arrangements mean two of the 10 panels that assess research funding applications will be disbanded. The Marsden Fund Council, a team of 11 researchers responsible for choosing the proposals to be funded, said the government’s directive would require “substantive changes” to assessment processes and would delay the 2025 funding round.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com