Research Excellence Centres Impressive

Research Excellence Centres Impressive

8 May 2014

The six Centres of Research Excellence (CoREs) that have been selected through the 2013/14 selection process have the potential to make major contributions to New Zealand’s future economic and social development, says Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) Chief Executive, Tim Fowler.

Six specialist CoREs that operate at the leading edge of their field within the international research community, have been selected this year. The Royal Society of New Zealand ran the selection process and made recommendations to the TEC Board, which made the final decisions. The CoREs fund provides operating expenditure of just under $210 million over six years. Funding for the CoREs will begin on 1 January 2015 to 2020.

Tim Fowler said “the new CoREs that were successful in this round are for research in areas fundamental to the interests of New Zealand such as health, nanotechnology, photonics and quantum technologies, and working with and exploiting large data sets.

“They are world-leading. Take, for example, the Centre for Complex Systems (Te Pūnaha Matatini). It will focus on harnessing and understanding complex big data sets for economic, social, and environmental benefit. As a concept, this barely existed until very recently.

“We also have the opportunity to build on established success with the Dodd-Walls Centre (photonics). It is a new CoRE, but has existed for seven years and is already averaging over $8 million a year in research revenue. This CoRE will be able to go to the next level with this additional funding from the TEC.

“It’s exciting to see that here in New Zealand we are contributing to the big issues and opportunities of our time, not only globally but for New Zealand’s success”, said Tim Fowler.

The successful CoREs

• The Maurice Wilkins Centre, hosted by University of Auckland

• MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, hosted by Victoria University of Wellington

• The Medical Technologies CoRE, hosted by University of Auckland

• The Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies, hosted by University of Otago

• Te Pūnaha Matatini – The Centre for Complex Systems and Networks, hosted by University of Auckland

• Brain Research New Zealand – Rangahau Roro Aotearoa, co-hosted by University of Otago and University of Auckland

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