The National Science Challenges (NSC) are 11 ten-year collaborative science programmes in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, established in 2014. They are "cross-disciplinary, mission-led programmes designed to tackle New Zealand’s biggest science-based challenges", and are funded through the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.

Establishment

The NSC initiative was developed over 2012–13 by the New Zealand government's Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) as a restructure of national scientific research funding. Established in advance of the 2014 general election, the Challenges were funded with $680.8 million over ten years, broken into two five-year phases. The science challenges they address were intended to be "the most important national-scale issues facing New Zealand". The challenges are collaborative and multi-disciplinary, creating new teams of researchers drawn from universities and other research institutions,

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

Crown Research Institutes In New Zealand, Crown Research Institutes (CRIs) are corporatised Crown entities charged with conducting scientific research. Crown Research Institutes date from 1992, with most formed out of parts of the former Department of Scientific and Indu ...

, businesses, community organisations, and NGOs.The Challenges share five principles, summarised by MBIE as: # Mission-led # Science quality # Best research team collaboration # Stakeholder engagement & public participation #

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

involvement and mātauranga The selection process involved a period of public consultation over late 2012–early 2013, and then selection by a "peak panel" of researchers, chaired by

Peter Gluckman Sir Peter David Gluckman (born 8 February 1949) is a New Zealand scientist. Originally trained as a paediatrician, he served as the inaugural Chief Science Advisor to the New Zealand Prime Minister from 2009 to 2018. He is a founding member a ...

. The selection panel consisted of William Denny, Ian Ferguson, Peter Hunter, Mary O’Kane,

Jacqueline Rowarth Jacqueline Sara Rowarth is a New Zealand agronomist, Dairy farming, dairy farmer and science administrator. Richie Poulton, Charles Royal, David Penman, Elf Eldridge, and Rachael Wiltshire. HLNSC launch 4 Dec 2015 walking onto Otakou marae Hon Steven Joyce left

HLNSC launch 4 Dec 2015 walking onto Otakou marae Hon Steven Joyce left

The first phase of funding from 2013 to 2018 led to eleven Challenges being established beginning in 2014; the last was launched on 5 May 2016. At the midway review in 2018 the Challenges received their second tranche of funding ($320 million) to last from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2024. Expert reaction to the review highlighted concerns over the way the challenges were initially selected, and whether the cost of governance means more could have been achieved through investing in existing funding mechanisms. The president of the New Zealand Association of Scientists, Heide Friedrich, said “The New Zealand Association of Scientists has concerns if the review process asked the right questions, given the recommendation is to approve the second tranche of funding without changes."

Shaun Hendy Shaun Cameron Hendy is a New Zealand physicist. He is currently a professor at the University of Auckland and was the first director of Te Pūnaha Matatini, a centre of research excellence in complex systems and data analytics. During the COVI ...

commented that "After some public input, the National Science Challenges were more or less selected by a panel led by Sir Peter Gluckman but most of us still find this process rather mysterious." A 2016 critique of the programme asserted that although "Māori involvement and mātauranga" is one of the core principles of their establishment, the National Science Challenges "moved to marginalize input by Māori researchers. Māori research approaches and complaints were recorded by the MBIE in NSC documents, but not substantively addressed". Subsequently the organisation Rauika Māngai was created, a group of Māori researchers representing the eleven National Science Challenges and

Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM) is New Zealand's Māori Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE). It was established in 2002 and is hosted by the University of Auckland with 21 research partners and is funded, like other CoRE's, by the Tertiary E ...

(Aotearoa New Zealand’s Centre of Māori Research Excellence). Rauika Māngai worked with the Challenges to improve partnerships with Māori communities and implement the 2020 Vision Mātauranga policy.

Challenges

References

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External links

Interview with Peter Gluckman
about his hopes for the science challenges (''Nature'', paywalled) National Science Challenges