Founding chair of New Zealand’s Biological Heritage challenge voices concerns as initiatives end
New Zealand’s government has “conveniently forgotten” a large chunk of science funding, a former senior government official has said.
James Buwalda, who served as chief executive of the former Ministry of Research, Science and Technology from 1996 to 2003, was also the founding chair of the Biological Heritage National Science Challenge, one of 11 challenges set up by the government in 2014 to address the most important scientific questions for the nation.
In a statement on 5 August, Buwalda said that “the ending of the 11 National Science Challenges on 30 June this year threatens the momentum of combined efforts to tackle the most pressing problems facing New Zealand”.
He told Research Professional News that he “felt it was time to speak up” after seeing that the challenges ended without the funding being replaced, adding that there is widespread concern in the sector. He no longer works for the challenge and now runs a private consultancy.
In the statement, Buwalda said that he fears “the gains made over the last 10 years may be lost”.
Loss of expertise
Although the 11 challenges were set up to be time-limited and were always due to expire this year, “most National Science Challenge funding was diverted from existing baseline science funding”, he said.
The government has “yet to acknowledge the impact and outcomes resulting from the National Science Challenges. We can’t afford to lose the momentum.”
Figures from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment show that the government paid the challenges around NZ$680 million over 10 years.
Buwalda said he was concerned about the likely impact on New Zealand science, including loss of expertise and “promising early career researchers being forced to move overseas or pursue other endeavours”.
“The National Science Challenges had a transformative impact on the way we do research, fostering collaboration across disciplines and institutions, as well as demonstrating a high level of community engagement. The inclusiveness of the challenges meant it involved knowledge holders, the implementers of innovation and our future leaders in science.”