Historic collaboration in public research sector
28 August 2025 | news
Professor Grant Edwards
Vice-Chancellor, Te Whare Wānaka o Aoraki Lincoln University
Chair of the New Zealand Vice-Chancellors' Committee
Now, more than ever, research must be proactive, organised and accessible, to engage effectively with an increasingly fractured world.
For research to be trusted and effective in a society, there needs to be a reciprocal relationship between communities, businesses and government and those producing research. Without it, countries face declining productivity and growth and fall behind their peers.
It has therefore never been more important for New Zealand’s universities and public research organisations to be working together to deliver the best results from the brilliant minds of those employed in either or both.
This month, our eight universities and New Zealand’s Public Research Organisations, created from seven Crown Research Institutes, have signed an historic statement of collaboration. It outlines a deepening of the connections between these two vital parts of the Kiwi science system and a plan to work as effectively and efficiently as possible in partnership.
Outcomes from this new collaboration include a work programme that will increase the impact of publicly funded science in New Zealand through:
- Strategies for growing and developing New Zealand’s research workforce
- Exploring opportunities for shared infrastructure and expertise
- Streamlining engagement and information sharing with decision makers in government, industry and other parts of the research sector to ensure New Zealanders get the best return from public investment in science
- Better connections with government advisors and ministries to speed up access to public research systems in times of emergencies.
All research is important. It drives us forward in crucial areas - health, food, technology, sustainability, for example – and brings positive impacts to our lives, often in ways we take for granted.
Public research institutions have a key role to play in meeting the needs of our country and our people. In universities, we contribute not just by research itself, but through the development of future capability, in areas such as AI, robotics, or agri-tech. We also play a vital role in building the pool of future research scientists to support the system, and in delivering research-led teaching to all areas of the workforce.
Alongside the Government and our private sector research and development colleagues, universities are poised right now to grasp the opportunities provided by the restructure of our public research organisations. Working hand in hand with them through this shared statement, and the streams of collaborative work that will result from this partnership, has to be one of our highest priorities as a collective.
Along with all our Vice-Chancellors, I’m passionate about the role we can and should be playing in the public research/science sector. Using this connection as a trigger, I see this as a once-in-a-generation opportunity for universities and our public research organisations to cement their role in contributing to a prosperous and positive future New Zealand.