The New Zealand Political Studies Association | Te Kāhui Tātai Tōrangapū o Aotearoa (NZPSA|TKTTOA) condemns and opposes the decision announced by the Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology, the Honourable Judith Collins KC, to discontinue support for research in the social sciences and humanities through the Royal Society’s Marsden Fund.
The NZPSA|TKTTOA membership is primarily composed of researchers and academics located in the humanities and social sciences. Over the 50 years of the Association, our members have engaged in research topics across a wide spectrum of issues related to Aotearoa New Zealand’s local, national, and international politics.
Marsden-funded projects with a local and national focus undertaken by our members have included work on voting, citizenship, youth engagement, public opinion, the functions of parliament and the public service, and the inclusion of diverse communities in our society.
The Marsden fund has also supported cutting edge, world-leading research on Māori politics, participation and governance. Research on New Zealand’s local and national politics is crucial to the health of our democracy and political system and is conducted predominantly within New Zealand.
In the field of international politics, NZPSA|TKTTOA members have received Marsden funding to support vital work on New Zealand’s foreign and trade policy, terrorism and security, war and peace, the information environment and technology, and climate change and sustainability.
The decision to marginalise social sciences and humanities on economic grounds fundamentally misunderstands the purposes for which scientific research, whether social or physical, is conducted. The value of research in politics and other social sciences is far beyond just immediate and direct economic impact; at its best, it contributes to the development of our society and gives us insights that empower citizens and enhance our democracy.
It also misunderstands the nature of economics and the economy. Economic growth, which is the stated aim of the Minister’s decision, is a function of people’s behavioural decisions: understanding the various social, cultural and political contexts in which those choices are taken is at the heart of the very disciplines which stand to suffer from this announcement.
Furthermore, this decision overlooks the intrinsic transdisciplinary nature of science, how the social sciences and humanities work together and alongside the likes of physics, chemistry, maths, engineering, and biomedical sciences to produce better research, knowledge, and science. These are not, never have been, and should not be, disciplines in complete isolation from each other.
In an era in which instability and misinformation is rife across many areas of domestic and global politics, maintaining a well-funded and robust political research agenda in this country is of vital importance to our security and prosperity. The Marsden Fund has always been distinguished by its even-handed operation across all disciplines in a manner that is non-partisan and based solely on research excellence. Its non-politicised foundation allowed researchers in the social sciences to work without being restricted by the short-term political or economic interests of New Zealand governments, foreign governments or corporations.
Understanding and addressing the fundamental challenges facing us as a nation and society will prove much more difficult without rigorous, well-funded research in the social sciences and humanities. This change to the fund will prevent us from asking the big questions central to the health of our democracy at a particularly turbulent and uncertain moment in human history. For these reasons the NZPSA|TKTTOA membership calls on the Minister to reverse this decision and restore access to the Marsden Fund to all those participating in social science and humanities research.
The NZPSA | TKTTOA is also signatory to a collective press release from a range of national associations of researchers.
