Science and research in New Zealand – we need to find a winning formula

Sector commentators have also hit out at the sudden loss of hundreds of millions of dollars of funding for science. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Opinion

EDITORIAL

Our science sector is struggling to find a winning formula.

The past few years have seen hundreds of science jobs cut amid ongoing financial turmoil within our universities and dozens more roles going at Crown agencies like Niwa and Callaghan Innovation.

Sector commentators have also hit out at the sudden loss of hundreds of millions of dollars of funding through the now-ending National Science Challenges – and the scrapping of a massive reboot that was supposed to have followed the decade-long programme.

The country’s departing chief scientist, Professor Dame Juliet Gerrard, told the Herald last month: “We need to set a direction for the science system that lasts longer than political cycles to enable us to move past the last few years of uncertainty, improve morale and strengthen the system, so that it can support New Zealand’s challenges and opportunities.”

The Labour Government’s reform of the sector started too late in its administration – then minister Ayesha Verrall didn’t release her vision for the future of science and research until December 2022. With Dame Jacinda Ardern resigning soon after and Labour’s focus on “bread and butter” issues, the writing was on the political wall.

Professor Dame Juliet Gerrard. Photo / Greg Bowker

Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, New Zealand’s inaugural chief science adviser under Sir John Key, was critical of the last Government’s approach, saying last May that it failed to look at the system as a whole and focused instead on operational issues.

“There are no major differences between our two major political parties on science – they both claim to support further science investment but their actions since the 1980s have shown little effective process,” Gluckman told the Life Sciences Summit in Wellington.

Gluckman is now in charge of two new review groups established under the coalition Government – the Science System Advisory Group (SSAG) and the University Advisory Group (UAG),

The SSAG is due to release its preliminary views any day now, following Budget 2024, described as worse than a “nothing burger” for science by one sector group.

“The pressure is on Sir Peter Gluckman, leading two advisory groups which must make a case for the reforms to help us rebuild the mojo that drives investment and success across the science system and universities,” the New Zealand Association of Scientists said in late May.

“The groups will need to provide vision and hope for science and technology to address our biggest challenges with effective strategies in areas such as primary industries, and coping with climate change and hazards. Peer nations are investing more and more, and we should as well,” they said.

Professor Sir Peter Gluckman is chairing two groups in science and the university system in New Zealand. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Gluckman made a similar plea last year: “Every time a policy paper is written, the messaging is that greater investment will be left until economic times are better... rather than understanding science is a core underpinning of economic development.”

The SSAG’s report will no doubt carry similar messages but will Technology Minister Judith Collins listen?

Or are we doomed to another round of lip service, navel-gazing and inaction?