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Published 4 December 2024

Changes to the Marsden Fund for 2025 funding round

The Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology today released new strategic directives for the Marsden Fund.


Read the media release from the Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology.

The Marsden Fund Council were recently advised of changes to its Terms of Reference and Investment Plan. The new Terms contain explicit signals that every application for funding must describe its potential to generate economic, environmental, or health benefit for New Zealand, and that 50% of grants from the Fund each year must have the potential for economic benefit. The new Investment Plan disestablishes panels which assess proposals on social sciences and humanities.

Since these directives will require substantive changes to processes for assessment and awarding of grants, the Marsden Fund Council has made the decision to delay the opening of the 2025 funding round. The Council will also assess the broader implications of these changes.

The Marsden Fund Council recognises the outstanding contributions across diverse research areas in curiosity-driven, fundamental research over the past 30 years. The Council extends its sincere thanks to the convenors, panel members and expert reviewers who have supported the panels that assess research on the social sciences and humanities.

Professor Gill Dobbie FRSNZ, Chair of the Marsden Fund Council, says: “The Marsden Fund incentivises excellent researchers and encourages them to pursue their best and boldest ideas, leading to new knowledge, skills, and global connections. The Marsden Fund Council has received direction from the Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology through a new Terms of Reference and a revised Investment Plan. The instructions from the Minister require the Council to make substantive changes, to which we have turned our full and immediate attention."

“With these new Terms of Reference and revised Investment Plan, we anticipate a delay to opening the 2025 funding round to sensibly implement these initiatives. It is our hope this can be done quickly, and we will implement the new directions outlined in the new documents as soon as possible.”

2024 Terms of Reference

2025-2027 Investment Plan

/ENDS

 

Source: Royal Society Te Apārangi