By Sarah McMillan\/cvnznews.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n
New Zealand\u2019s science community is bracing for a bleak Budget, with senior researchers warning that the country\u2019s research system is \u201cbuckling at the knees\u201d just as the government prepares to push more schoolchildren into compulsory science learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
New Zealand Association of Scientists (NZAS) Co\u2011President Troy Baisden says the sector has been hit with \u201ctruckloads of bad news\u201d in recent weeks, and confidence is collapsing across both public and private research. \u201cThe government keeps pointing to private\u2011sector R&D as if it\u2019s booming,\u201d he says. \u201cBut Stats NZ\u2019s latest survey shows business spending has flatlined and R&D employment has dropped between 5 and 10 percent in a single year. That\u2019s not growth \u2014 that\u2019s retreat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The picture inside government\u2011funded research is even starker. Last week, Marsden Fund applicants received letters showing 84 percent<\/strong> failed to make it past the first round \u2014 meaning fewer than one in twelve proposals will ultimately be funded. \u201cWe\u2019ve crossed into the territory where researchers spend more applying for grants than the system returns in funding,\u201d Baisden says. \u201cThat\u2019s unsustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Early\u2011career scientists are being hit hardest. Fast\u2011Start grants, designed to keep young researchers in the system, have seen success rates plunge from 24 percent to 17 percent. \u201cWe\u2019re watching the next generation lose hope,\u201d says NZAS Co\u2011President Lucy Stewart. \u201cThe reforms being pushed through show little understanding of long\u2011term consequences. The strategy is unclear, and the cherry\u2011picking continues.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Concerns are also mounting over the new Research Funding New Zealand agency, which scientists fear will centralise control and reduce independence. Advisory groups announced this week include strong expertise, but Stewart notes they are \u201c80 percent insiders,\u201d with critical national areas \u2014 such as biodiversity and geological hazards \u2014 represented by just one person out of 35.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Confusion deepened after an announcement shifting money into a new Transition Research Fund. Initial figures suggested the fund was only a quarter the size of the programmes it replaces. Officials now say that is not the intention, but updated web pages still point to significant cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stewart says NZAS has taken the unusual step of issuing a Briefing to the Incoming Minister, warning that without urgent correction, New Zealand risks undermining both its scientific workforce and its future innovation pipeline \u2014 even as the government prepares to demand more science learning from the next generation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Sarah McMillan\/cvnznews.com New Zealand\u2019s science community is bracing for a bleak Budget, with senior researchers warning that the country\u2019s research system is \u201cbuckling at the knees\u201d just as the government prepares to push more schoolchildren into compulsory science learning. New Zealand Association of Scientists (NZAS) Co\u2011President Troy Baisden says the sector has been hit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[41],"tags":[1154,113,1176],"coauthors":[380],"class_list":{"0":"post-13134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-budget","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-science"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Science.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13136,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13134\/revisions\/13136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13134"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=13134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}