Mike Grimshaw: Constrained and framed? The limitation of academic freedom by research funding and strategies

While most debate on academic freedom concerns the question of what can be stated, argued, proffered and responded to – and how, such a focus has enabled a more central and insidious attack and undermining of academic freedom to occur via explicit and implicit constraints upon research.

It’s almost a year since the radical reduction, cutting and refocussing of the Marsden Fund that occurred, to our institutional shame, without any sustained or high-level public push-back, critique or challenge from the Universities. Rather, it seemed the universities waited, desperate for any reallocated government funding and ready, willing and able to do whatever was expected, demanded or imposed so as to gather as many crumbs as they could.

David Lillis, John Raine and Peter Schwerdtfeger: Funding of Research in New Zealand

Mixing Traditional Knowledge and Science

The embedding of the Treaty of Waitangi, and an increased focus on Māori research and Māori researchers in our innovation system, follow similar trends in education and public health. According increased status to Māori culture and Māori researchers, also to Pacific research, in research funding decision-making may enhance the profile of Māori and Pacific in research and create needed role models for young Māori and Pacific people. However, negative consequences for our research sector are sure to follow.

We assert that merit­-based science is both effective and fair, and that replacing merit with social engineering such as critical race theory and ideological control will lead to damage in the foreseeable future (see also Abbot et al, 2023). We hold deep concerns about the proliferation of identity-­based ideology that seeks to replace core liberal principles, essential for scientific and technological advances, with principles derived from postmodernism and Critical Social Justice. Such principles claim routinely that world science is racist, patriarchal, colonial and a tool of oppression.

Dr David Lillis: Capture of Research Funding in New Zealand?

Executive Summary 

The embedding of the Treaty of Waitangi and an increased focus on Māori research and Māori researchers in our innovation system follow similar trends in domains such as education and public health. According increased status to Māori culture and Māori researchers and, indeed, also to Pacific research, in research funding decision-making may enhance the profile of Māori and Pacific in research and create needed role models for young Māori and Pacific people. However, negative consequences for other research will follow.