[Blended image of two "me"s standing next to a Kauri tree that was planted a few weeks after I was born, about 37 years apart]

Opening karakia from Dr Willy-John Martin [by working together, we will flourish and achieve greatness]

Panelists: Professor Gary Evans (Chief Science Advisor, MBIE), Dr Prue Williams (General manager, Future Research System, MBIE), Dr Willy-John Martin (Director of Māori Research, Science and Innovation, MBIE), Tara Thurlow-Ray (Manager, Future Pathways, MBIE)

Prue Williams

Intro

• Te Ara Paerangi whitepaper launched 6th December, builds on what was heard
• over 900 submissions to green paper
• All views taken and summaries
• Whitepaper includes key policy directions and a roadmap
• The policy document is intended to demonstrate an enduring, multi-year program

Why?

• Innovators and researchers have served well over the past 30 years
• There is a strong desire and need for change
• Whitepaper summarises the need for change, resources have been spread thinly
• Institutions and funding needs to be adapted
• Need to increase the efficiency of the system
• The existing system lacks diversity
• White paper provides a blueprint to address the challenges

Vision Statement

• Four objectives, providing a framework
• People and the ability to adapt will maximise the output
• Key part: embedding Te Tiriti; this will be incorporated into the design

Willy-John Martin

Objective 1 - The impact objective

• Focusing Research, Science and Innovation (RSI) on things that matter
• Focusing resources
• Providing a clear direction from the government, promoting collaboration over unproductive competition
• <...>
• Looking to accelerate the information transfer, and facilitate global collaboration
• Looking to improve and translate discoveries
• Key part: use RSI to make new futures for our country

Objective 2 - Embedding Te Tiriti

• There has previously been inefficient expression
• Overall responsiveness to Te Tiriti has been weak
• Want to embed Te Tiriti aspirations at all levels
• Want to allow Māori to explore their own priorities
• Addressing lower funding issues for Māori, providing for Māori-led National Research Priorities (NRPs)
• Partnering with Māori, and providing them with a dedicated platform
• Crafting a Te Tiriti / Waitangi statement

Tara Thurlow-Ray

Objective 3 - Our greatest asset in RSI is our people

• Valuing our people
• Addressing the issues raised in response to the green paper, especially around career precarity and other things that affect wellbeing
• Greater emphasis on fellowships
• Pathways to <...>
• Key directives: attracting, developing & retaining people; addressing settings that disincentivise long-term employment; grow representation of Māori, women, and Pacific people
• Limited reach, there are existing systemic issues that have led to precarity; a change in infrastructure is needed

Objective 4 - Building system agility

• Sustainable, cohesive system
• Changing the system of governance, making sure that public research is recognised and valued
• Effective government and ownership
• Coordinating investments; system-wide investment
• Reform for resilience, adaptation, improving transparency for research overheads

Implementation plans

• Three phases - main phases, but often operate in parallel
• 1. Immediate people support; changing processes will happen over many years, but won't wait until 2026 for a discussion
• 2. Start consultation to determine NRPs; want to work with you
• Can stay up to day on the website, setting up new ways
• Green paper submissions are still live and active

Prue Williams

• The release of the whitepaper is the beginning of reform
• We are trying to ensure that RSI sets researchers up for success
• Want changes of high significance to New Zealand
• Want to adapt to new and emerging issues
• Thank you for taking the time for listening

Questions

• What are the key differences between National Science Challenges and National Research Priorities? We are trying to take lessons from NSCs and other examples; how to manage balance of setting top level priorities and more nuanced ways. The answer is still to come, looking for better areas, setting at a national level.
• Where will investment come from? Across the system, government is committed to achieving the target. It will come from a combination of private and government spending. Government will add money as fiscal conditions allow.
• What is the role for fundamental research? Don't want to remove things; there will always be a space for competitive grants and fundamental research.
• How will the changes affect the health sector? There are a number of different research strategies in New Zealand, strategies for Te Ara Paerangi sit alongside that. Health research is very important for New Zealand, so we don't expect a lot of changes, except where there would be positive benefits.
• Will a change of government impact Te Ara Paerangi? Our history demonstrates a need for National Research Priorities to be enduring; it can take some time to flesh that out. We are working to design a system for government to direct key priorities and issues. None of us want the priorities to change with the government.
• How will the gap between users and researchers be closed? We haven't designed a way to take this in, it's part of future work. There are existing avenues for discussions with Māori communities, and these will continue.
• If people have already told us about their ideas, we don't want to waste their time with more questions about the same thing; we need to read the ideas before returning for more information.
• We will be tweeting any updates; there is a monthly newsletter, and we will be trying to capture discussion on the key questions on our website.
• What role do universities have? A lot of researchers are at universities, we are keen to make sure they are involved. There is a regular working group with the Ministry of Education around issues that apply to both education and RSI. We regularly talk to directors, DDCRs and Vice Chancellors. A majority of the involvements from academics are from researchers within universities.
• What do we do about existing racist institutions? We are looking for a change in culture. For example, the Endeavour fund allows a narrative CV (for people from non-traditional or non-academic backgrounds.
• How do we build Māori capacity? There is an intent to have a Māori-led National Research Priority; the process to get there still needs to be hammered out
• Large parts of the funding will sit outside the National Research Priorities
• Are there specific plans for research mobility? The system of a static career is part of our past; we look forward to hearing from people about how to make it work in practice.
• Is there infrastructure to support the non-academic workforce? We do recognise RSI is make up of a lot of different people. There are some fantastic conversations with industry. It has been good to look at the research community as a whole.

Key themes

• Some changes (not huge impact) will happen this year
• Hoping to be releasing Te Tiriti statement early this year
• Want to set up a system, have identified a number of areas where we can get started
• Releasing discussion documents

Closing karakia from Dr Willy-John Martin [setting aside the discussions of the day]