Dr Michael Johnston: An innovative approach to research funding

You might think that a national organisation awarding research grants would fund the best proposals. You might even think that funding decisions would be made by experts who can identify quality when they see it.

The Royal Society Te Apārangi oversees the awarding of the prestigious Marsden grants. In its 2024 round, Marsden funding went to truly cutting-edge projects.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: The Royal Society of NZ's Race-Based Funding is a constitutional requirement....

Its Official: The Royal Society of NZ's Race-Based Funding is a constitutional requirement.

ACTs Treaty Principles debate has clarified a lot of things we never understood before in New Zealand. For example, Kiwi Blog report, "Taxpayers are funding 20 Future Leader Fellowships. Each one is worth over $800,000 so [that's] $16 million from taxpayers. MBIE has delegated decisions on who gets them to the Royal Society of NZ. Their criteria are:

David Farrar: Royal Society tells Asian and European male researchers to stuff off

Taxpayers are funding 20 Future Leader Fellowships. Each one is worth over $800,000 so we are talking over $16 million from taxpayers.

MBIE has delegated decisions on who gets them to the Royal Society of NZ. And their criteria are:

David Farrar: Rogernomics not deemed interesting

An interesting comment on my Royal Society funding piece:

There is no biography of Sir Roger Douglas. As a Senior Lecturer in History, I asked the Marsden Fund to support my biography of Douglas. They ranked my application 62 out of 62, dismissing it with the shallow comment, “The topic of Rogernomics is not all that exciting.” -  This is political bigotry. It shows the poor quality of the Royal Society’s thinking, which has since been exposed on other topics.

David Farrar: How the Royal Society abandoned science funding

The Marsden Fund is funded by taxpayers and administered by the Royal Society.

It is meant to be for research in science, engineering and maths, social sciences and the humanities. It says it is regarded as the hallmark of excellence for research in New Zealand.

Bob Jones: The disgraceful Royal Society

It’s outrageous taxpayers should fund the New Zealand branch of the Royal Society.

Have a look at its web-site and in particular the 41 staff photos. They share a common factor namely they’re all bloody ugly, although one described as a media advisor, once you’ve read past the maori babble preceding their names and background, I concede was quite pretty. However, further investigation and it turned out he was a bloke.

Below is a list of the $158 million this lot squandered on your behalf over the last two years for “research.” It’s bloody unbelievable.

Michael Johnston: Maori knowledge and science? don’t mix chalk and cheese

In July last year a furore erupted when seven eminent professors from the University of Auckland published a letter in the New Zealand Listener. They wrote to criticise Ministry of Education plans to include mātauranga Māori (traditional Māori knowledge) in the science curriculum for schools.

The letter drew fire from many quarters. The Vice Chancellor of Auckland University, the Tertiary Education Union and the Royal Society Te Apārangi all piled on. The professors were accused of causing “hurt and dismay” and told that their letter was “offensive” and “racist”. They were denounced in an open letter signed by more than two thousand university staff.

Three of the professors were investigated by the Royal Society, a process that could have led to their expulsion. Eventually the investigation was called off after the Society was taken to task by international giants Richard Dawkins and Jerry Coyne. Sadly, one of the three, Michael Corballis, died before his name was cleared.

Bryce Edwards: Culture wars stifling critical debate on our campuses

“Cancel culture”, “callout culture” or “woke politics” – these trends are often accused of reducing political debate and diversity of thought in society. And it’s on university campuses where this is said to occur the most.

Yet until now, it hasn’t been clear if academic freedom is being eroded and whether academics are being stifled in their role as “critic and conscience” of society. We have had occasional controversies – such as the fallout at the University of Auckland and in the Royal Society over the academics who questioned the way that mātauranga Māori is being used in the education curriculum, but it’s been hard to know whether this type of controversy is indicative of wider problems.

There is now evidence that there is indeed a problem. The first New Zealand Annual Survey on Academic Freedom, published today, shows that a significant proportion of university academics feel very constrained in what they can discuss and disagree with. The survey, commissioned by the Free Speech Union and carried out by Curia Research, asked academics how free they felt in challenging consensus, debating issues such as gender or the Treaty of Waitangi, and so forth. Respondents were asked to rate their academic freedom on various topics on a 0-10 scale, in which 0 meant “unfree” and 10 meant “entirely free”. There were 1266 responses to the survey.

Graham Adams: The biggest losers in the mātauranga Māori debate may be Māori students

Graham Adams reports on statements by Professors Robert Nola and Garth Cooper on why they resigned from the Royal Society.

The stoush over whether mātauranga Māori should be taught in the school NCEA science syllabus — sparked by a letter to the Listener by seven emeritus professors last July who asserted that indigenous knowledge isn’t scientific — has reached a stalemate.

Graham Adams: The philosopher stoned for his defence of science

Robert Nola’s academic specialty is the philosophy of science but the Royal Society is investigating him over what it claims are “misguided” views regarding Māori knowledge. Graham Adams reports.

Professor Robert Nola’s bread and butter is analysing what makes science science. And it has been his focus for more than 50 years. Yet, he is facing a disciplinary hearing by the Royal Society for expressing his views on science and mātauranga Māori (traditional Māori knowledge).

David Lillis and Peter Schwerdtfeger: The Mātauranga Māori – Science Debate

The Recent Controversy

A letter to the Listener, signed by seven internationally-renowned University of Auckland professors in July 2021, sparked a heated public controversy that has become increasingly vindictive. Several media articles have discussed the letter and reactions to it at length and we do not wish to duplicate their perspectives here. However, we do wish to present what we consider to be a balanced view of the critical issues and present a position that defends the integrity of science while accepting the value of indigenous knowledge.

Point of Order: Why our Royal Society is investigating defenders of science?

Soon after the latest National Party line-up was announced this afternoon, Newshub was reporting who had finished up with higher rankings than before and who had slipped.

Chris Luxon’s election as leader last week obviously led to his being catapulted from number 29 to number one. Nicola Willis, his deputy, jumped from 16 to two, while Simon Bridges was up from seven to three, two places below where he was this time two years ago.

And former leader Judith Collins?

Graham Adams: Māori professor under investigation for views on mātauranga Māori

Dr Garth Cooper has devoted his career to helping fellow Māori but he now finds himself in the gun over his opinions about science and indigenous knowledge. Graham Adams reports from the front lines of the culture wars.

New Zealanders like their heroes talented and modest and preferably devoted to public service as well. Sir Edmund Hillary is the exemplar of that breed and very few have the mana he enjoys in our collective consciousness.

Nevertheless, there are many others similarly talented and dedicated to the collective good but who go largely unnoticed outside their professional lives.

One such is Professor Garth Cooper, who is suddenly in the news because he is under disciplinary investigation by the Royal Society Te Apārangi, the nation’s premier organisation promoting science and the humanities.

NZ Climate Science Coalition: An Open Letter to the Council of the Royal Society of New Zealand

3 October 2018

An Open Letter to the Council of the Royal Society of New Zealand

The debate on man-made global warming.

Over the last year a series of exchanges between the Royal Society of New Zealand (RSNZ) and the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition have revealed the following:

Bob Edlin: Ethnicity data to be collected for “balance” in appointments to State sector boards

Great news for mathematicians.  Their services – or the services of a few of them, appropriately selected – look likely to  be increasingly required to monitor the implementation of the Government’s diversification policies.

Those policies are being pushed into the domain of science by the Royal Society of New Zealand and by Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods.

The society and the Minister are saying – in effect – they can’t wait for the gender and race blends they seek to evolve naturally.  They favour a creative approach, to be effected through social engineering.

This puts merit on the back seat and promotes a numbers game.

NZCPR Weekly: Claiming Back Our Rights

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

This week we look at the importance of speaking freely and we ask why research in New Zealand is being increasingly stifled by race-based politics, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Bob Edlin exposes the possibility that all research undertaken in this country will need to comply with the Treaty of Waitangi, and our poll asks whether the Treaty of Waitangi should be included in the new National Research Charter that is being developed for New Zealand.

*To read the newsletter click HERE.
*To register for the NZCPR Weekly mailing list, click HERE.  

Bryan Leyland: “Things you know that ain't so" - the Royal Society

As the American humorist Will Rogers said: “It’s not what we don’t know that gives us trouble, it’s what we know that ain’t so.” 

Things that you know that ain't so: The Royal Society of New Zealand is committed to science and open debate.

When the UK Royal Society was founded in 1660 its motto was “Nullius in verba”: take nobody's word for it. This committed it to open debate based on the weight of evidence, not opinions and, most certainly not “consensus” (a.k.a. “appeal to authority”). It also resolved never to have an opinion on any scientific matter.

When the Royal Society of New Zealand (RSNZ) was formed in 1867 I am sure it had similar objectives. Since then it has gone into a downhill slide. 

Bryan Leyland: Things you know that ain't so - sea levels are rising

“Things you know that ain't so - the sea level is rising rapidly and this will continue to increase”. 

We are constantly being told by the Royal Society of New Zealand and others that the sea level is rising more and more rapidly and we must be prepared for a rise of something like 1 m over the next 100 years or so – 10 mm per year. This is a serious matter because many Councils are now restricting building close to the sea and putting restrictions on existing houses that have substantially reduced their value.

There is no scientific foundation for this belief. It is based on the output of computer models that, so far, have been shown to consistently overestimate the rate of sea level rise.