News
Published 14 May 2018Marsden Fund preliminary proposals for 2018
This year there were 1103 proposals received – 741 Standard and 358 Fast-Start preliminary proposals, and 4 Marsden Fund Council (MFC) Award proposals. The total number of proposals received was similar to last year's figure of 1106. In total, 303 applicants have been invited to submit full proposals – 182 Standards and 121 Fast-Starts – and 2 MFC Award proposals have progressed to stage 2, making a total of 305 proposals through to the second round. The total number of applicants invited to the full round also includes an extra 21 proposals invited from the HBS combined panel trial process - 11 Standards, and 10 Fast-Starts.
We anticipate approximately 135 proposals will eventually be contracted. The projected amount of funding available is approximately $86.4 million (excl. GST).
Submitted and invited to full round by panel
| Received | Invited to full round | ||||||||
| Panel Code | Panel Name | Standard | Fast-Start |
MFC Award |
Total | Standard | Fast-Start | MFC Award | Total |
| BMS | Biomedical Sciences | 92 | 28 | 120 | 19 | 7 | 26 | ||
| CMP | Cellular, Molecular and Physiological Biology | 66 | 18 | 84 | 16 | 7 | 23 | ||
| EEB | Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour | 83 | 42 | 125 | 20 | 12 | 32 | ||
| EHB | Economics and Human and Behavioural Sciences | 71 | 45 | 116 | 16 | 13 | 29 | ||
| EIS | Engineering and Interdisciplinary Sciences | 76 | 39 | 115 | 16 | 12 | 28 | ||
| ESA | Earth Sciences and Astronomy | 67 | 31 | 98 | 18 | 10 | 28 | ||
| HUM | Humanities | 55 | 38 | 93 | 13 | 13 | 26 | ||
| MIS | Mathematical and Information Sciences | 72 | 34 | 106 | 16 | 11 | 27 | ||
| PCB | Physics, Chemistry and Biochemistry | 65 | 17 | 82 | 17 | 6 | 23 | ||
| SOC | Social Sciences | 94 | 66 | 160 | 20 | 20 | 40 | ||
| MFC | Marsden Fund Council Award | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | ||||
| HBS | HBS Combined Panel Trial | * | * | * | 11 | 10 | 21 | ||
| Grand Total | 741 | 358 | 4 | 1103 | 182 | 121 | 2 | 305 | |
* HBS proposals are from the EHB, HUM, and SOC panels, and are already counted in the received totals against each panel.
View descriptions of assessment panels
Institutional Statistics
Total proposals submitted by institution
| Institution | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
| AgResearch | 16 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 9 | 11 |
| GNS Science | 30 | 39 | 30 | 33 | 31 | 29 |
| Industrial Research Ltd | 8 | |||||
| Institute of Environmental Science and Research | 2 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research | 14 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 12 | 11 |
| National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd | 22 | 12 | 14 | 20 | 25 | 23 |
| Plant and Food Research | 15 | 7 | 16 | 11 | 8 | 15 |
| Scion | 7 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 4 |
| CRI Total | 114 | 94 | 91 | 92 | 95 | 96 |
| Auckland University of Technology | 30 | 24 | 35 | 23 | 27 | 35 |
| Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology | 1 | |||||
| IPU Tertiary Institute New Zealand | 1 | |||||
| Lincoln University | 7 | 15 | 20 | 13 | 11 | 11 |
| Manukau Institute of Technology | 1 | |||||
| Massey University | 129 | 132 | 137 | 122 | 129 | 117 |
| Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology | 2 | 1 | ||||
| Open Polytechnic of New Zealand | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Otago Polytechnic | 1 | |||||
| Te Wānanga o Aotearoa | 1 | |||||
| Te Wānanga o Raukawa | 1 | |||||
| Unitec - Institute of Technology | 1 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 |
| The University of Auckland | 323 | 320 | 322 | 291 | 283 | 268 |
| University of Canterbury | 98 | 95 | 103 | 81 | 92 | 80 |
| University of Otago | 184 | 232 | 218 | 204 | 217 | 226 |
| University of Waikato | 69 | 74 | 71 | 64 | 61 | 68 |
| Victoria University of Wellington | 170 | 195 | 163 | 173 | 153 | 163 |
| Waiariki Institute of Technology | 1 | |||||
| Waikato Institute of Technology | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Whitireia Community Polytechnic | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology | 1 | |||||
| TEO Total | 1011 | 1093 | 1075 | 979 | 981 | 976 |
| Other* Total | 25 | 29 | 28 | 26 | 30 | 31 |
| Grand Total | 1150 | 1216 | 1194 | 1092 | 1106 | 1103 |
Total invited to submit a full proposal (including MFCA proposals going to Stage 2)
| Institution | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
| AgResearch | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | ||
| GNS Science | 5 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 8 |
| Industrial Research Ltd | 2 | |||||
| Institute of Environmental Science and Research | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Landcare Research | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd | 4 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 4 |
| Plant and Food Research | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5 | |
| Scion | 1 | |||||
| CRI Total | 18 | 14 | 19 | 14 | 19 | 22 |
| Auckland University of Technology | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | |
| Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology | ||||||
| Lincoln University | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |
| Massey University | 22 | 24 | 22 | 19 | 37 | 31 |
| Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology | ||||||
| Open Polytechnic of New Zealand | ||||||
| Otago Polytechnic | ||||||
| Te Wānanga o Aotearoa | ||||||
| Te Wānanga o Raukawa | 1 | |||||
| Unitec - Institute of Technology | 1 | |||||
| The University of Auckland | 76 | 76 | 64 | 60 | 67 | 70 |
| University of Canterbury | 24 | 26 | 21 | 23 | 22 | 22 |
| University of Otago | 42 | 47 | 38 | 47 | 67 | 76 |
| University of Waikato | 8 | 11 | 8 | 11 | 7 | 18 |
| Victoria University of Wellington | 39 | 51 | 30 | 36 | 31 | 52 |
| Waiariki Institute of Technology | ||||||
| Waikato Institute of Technology | ||||||
| Whitireia Community Polytechnic | ||||||
| Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology | ||||||
| TEO Total | 211 | 237 | 187 | 199 | 231 | 278 |
| Other* Total | 2 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Grand Total | 231 | 256 | 208 | 216 | 259 | 305 |
*Other applicants includes private individuals, health boards, museums and independent research organisations.