WELLINGTON, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand academic circles have collectively condemned the latest government move to cut humanities and social science funding and refocus it for science with economic values such as physics, chemistry, maths, engineering and biomedical sciences.
The New Zealand Association of Scientists deplored key aspects of the Wednesday announcement that the Marsden Fund will eliminate its Social Sciences and Humanities Panel, and introduce measures requiring funded research to be of economic benefit, said Troy Baisden, co-president of the New Zealand Association of Scientists.
The New Zealand government has updated the Marsden Fund to focus on core scientific research that helps lift economic growth and contributes to science with a purpose, which will apply to projects funded from the 2025 round. It also announced an updated plan for the Catalyst Fund, which invests in international collaboration opportunities across the sector, with a focus on clear outcomes and priority research areas.
Baisden said international collaboration is most effective around fundamental research in areas of mutual excellence and interest. Attempting to extract economic outcomes undermines the quality of collaborations as well as their long-term benefits.
Siouxsie Wiles, microbiologist from the University of Auckland, said "science" developed new vaccines in seemingly record time but it is not scientists who understand how best to vaccinate people and what barriers might be faced.
The Marsden Fund was New Zealand's only government fund to support humanities and social sciences research. Refocusing the fund to focus on "science with a purpose" is going to have enormous negative ramifications for New Zealand, Wiles said.
Nic Rawlence, director of the Otago Palaeogenetics Laboratory, University of Otago, said archaeology is by nature a multidisciplinary toolbox that spans the fields of biology to humanities and social sciences. The scrapping of the humanities and social sciences panels means there is now no funding for research into New Zealand's Maori and European history.
"If we don't learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it, which will have real economic consequences considering this supremely ill-advised decision by the government," Rawlence said. ■
