Deans Condemn Minister’s Cut To Humanities And Social Sciences Research Funding

4 December 2024

The government’s move to stop funding arts, social sciences and humanities research through the Marsden Fund will have far-reaching negative impacts on every Aotearoa New Zealander and must be reversed.

The Australasian Council of Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities represents 44 universities from Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia and is calling for an immediate reversal of the decision to disband the Humanities and Social Sciences Panels.

Researchers in the humanities, arts and social sciences improve agricultural productivity, build resilience to natural disasters, support those living with dementia, provide financial guidance to elderly New Zealanders and support the creative arts industries.

This week the Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins announced, without consultation, the focus of the Fund will shift to core science, with the humanities and social sciences panels disbanded and no longer supported.

“Real impact on our economy will come from areas such as physics chemistry, maths, engineering and biomedical sciences,” Ms Collins said. This statement ignores the huge contributions to the economy made by other disciplines.

The blunt action to end funding to arts, social science and humanities research fails to understand how important these disciplines are to New Zealand’s economy, environment and social cohesion.

Half of the last 10 Aotearoa New Zealand Prime Ministers have had an arts degree. Half of all current Cabinet Ministers have one too, with degrees in discipline areas like politics, history, English literature, and social policy.

The decision undermines the government’s Amplify Arts strategy where Minister Goldsmith has stressed the importance of the arts to this county’s soft power and global branding.

A thriving economy also depends on a thriving creative arts sector. The arts and creative sector is growing faster than the rest of the economy, contributing NZ$16.3 billion, or 4.3% of GDP.

Arts, social science and humanities researchers contribute to almost every Ministry, including Education, Health, Justice, Environment, Business, Defence and others helping promote social cohesion, learning from our past and imagining new futures.

Researchers in these fields work with other disciplines and establish projects like MaaraTech, which aims to improve productivity in the fruit growing sector through the development of automation.

Another example, QuakeCoRE, where social scientists are working within an interdisciplinary team to find ways of building earthquake resilience. Or MeDArT, an artist led project investigating the use of art as a tool to improve communication and wellbeing amongst those with dementia.

And graduates of the humanities, arts and social sciences end up in an incredibly diverse range of jobs.

Take Michael Garvey for example, an Arts graduate that founded Foodprint, an app that fights food waste. Or Meg de Ronde, Tatau Uruora, Chief Executive at Te Kāhui Tika Tangata, Human Rights Commission who studied a Bachelor and Master of Arts.

The Marsden Fund was established by the New Zealand government 30 years ago to fund fundamental research that’s not subject to the government of the day’s priorities and is researcher-led.

It is critical that we preserve its integrity and ensure that the work of humanities, arts and social sciences scholars continues to be funded. Research in these fields makes New Zealand a healthier, wealthier, safer, fairer and happier nation.

Examples Marsden Fund projects awarded grants include:

• Exploring the hidden childcare struggles of parents working in a 24/7 economy
• Reviewing prison systems and e-incarceration
• Investigating the demise of ocean health from a governance perspective
• Investigations into sex and violence in emerging sexual trends
• Using virtual reality to combat racial bias
• Can we halt soil degradation through a new consideration of soil sovereignty?
• Tiaki tāne: Kaupapa Māori approaches to exploring causes of youth offending for rangatahi tāne Māori
• Questioning machine assisted learning and its impact on language
• Understanding social media and online interference from a child’s perspective
• Identifying gaps in the way adults talk to children about abuse
• What are the implications of policing climate justice activism?
• Exploring how New Zealanders with ADHD experience and manage their Internet use
• Exploring the roles and responsibilities of Aotearoa’s Non-Lawyer Advocates
• Misogyny and violence in the digital sphere

About DASSH

The Australasian Council of Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities represents more than 250 Deans and Associate and Deputy Deans from nearly every university in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. Our members lead schools that are home to more than 100,000 students and thousands of researchers in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities. We advocate for our disciplines, produce research and policy submissions, and engage with government, members and colleagues in Australia and around the world. DASSH is a hub for members, with networking and professional development events held throughout the year.

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