Research funding to decline as New Zealand gets ‘smarter’

New Zealand’s shift to “smarter” research spending will be executed without any additional taxpayer support, the government has confirmed.

A “Science investment plan”, released by tertiary education and science minister Penny Simmonds, outlines details of the government’s decision to reallocate an extra NZ$122 million (£53 million) to advanced technologies research.

The increase, phased over the next four financial years, will coincide with funding reductions of between 22 and 31 per cent in the other three priority research “pillars” of primary industries, environmental sustainability and “healthy people and a thriving society”.

These areas “have received long-term sustained public investment”, the plan explains. “Private-sector investment has grown and there is further capacity for industry to take a greater role.”

The plan says overall funding for researchers and research organisations will decline, “reflecting earlier government savings initiatives”. Total grants will fall from about NZ$1.2 billion in 2026-27 to NZ$1.05 billion in 2029-30, although this will mostly be offset by a steady increase in rebates and refunds from the Research and Development Tax Incentive scheme.

The plan also outlines how a newly created independent board, Research Funding New Zealand, will assume the functions of three separate grant-awarding bodies.

In a foreword, Simmonds said the government was focusing its spending “where science can make the greatest difference. This includes capitalising on our strengths in the primary sector and environmental management, while accelerating progress in advanced technologies to lift productivity across the economy.”

The plan was “informed” by an April report from the Prime Minister’s Science, Innovation and Technology Advisory Council, along with subsequent advice on “tangible opportunities for New Zealand”. More granular investment plans for the four priority areas are being developed by Research Funding New Zealand.

Simmonds has also released details of the replacement for the Performance-Based Research Fund (PBRF), a NZ$315 million scheme that allocated block grants according to the results from a six-yearly research assessment exercise.

Grants through the new Tertiary Research Excellence Fund will remain at NZ$315 million a year but Simmonds said the dumping of the “burdensome” assessment exercise would “significantly reduce” universities’ costs. A cabinet minute estimates these costs at NZ$40 million per round.

The revised scheme will be phased in from next year, fully replacing the PBRF from 2029. Allocations will be based on a combination of existing metrics and new measures of citations, commercialisation and “policy outcomes”, derived from datasets developed by the Tertiary Education Commission.

The Ministry of Education said the new fund would have a greater focus on the “real world impact of research, such as how it helps businesses or influences government decisions”. Simmonds said the fund’s design had been “informed” by the University Advisory Group (UAG), along with “subsequent engagement with experts and the sector”.

The Tertiary Education Union (TEU) said the government had “largely ignored” the UAG report, and the lack of any additional funding – coupled with “high inflation” – effectively meant the scheme was being cut in real terms.

“The new system is less bureaucratic but a blunt tool, nevertheless,” the union said. “The result will likely be a coalescing of existing research funds towards a narrower cohort of academic researchers.” 

The TEU said proposed weightings of 30 per cent for field-weighted citations, 7.5 per cent for commercialisation and 5 per cent for policy impact were likely to favour disciplines which “already attract private research funds”. The humanities and creative disciplines will be most disadvantaged by the new approach, the union said.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com