Announcement by the Royal Society of New Zealand
Thursday 7 September 2006

$39.1m for exciting new research

The Marsden Fund – New Zealand’s funding for ideas-driven research – has this year given the go-ahead to 78 new projects, 26 of which are Fast-Start grants for outstanding new researchers. The projects funded cover an enormous breadth of disciplines, from nanotechnology to the arts in Oceania.
   
“This year we have been able to fund some truly world-class research, which would simply not happen without the Marsden Fund,” says Dr Garth Carnaby, chair of the Marsden Fund Council.

“I am particularly pleased with the award to a Canterbury University scientist, one of many scientists funded, who will now be able to participate in a new global initiative to detect neutrinos using the Antarctic ice cap as the detector. This will increase our understanding of the evolution of the Universe.”

Other projects that have received a slice of the $39.1 million (incl. GST) include two Waikato University investigations: one into the social networks of homeless people; another analysing youth perspectives on videogame violence. A Victoria University project may help parole board members decide when violent offenders should be allowed to go home.

An innovative project at The University of Auckland will look at the brand power of New Zealand in the context of other emerging nation brands such as Singapore Global Schoolhouse or Excellence Ireland.

A University of Otago researcher will keep volunteers awake for 30 hours for a project that will give us insight into strokes, and a Massey University Auckland researcher will look at one of life’s outstanding enigmas – why nature favours one form of a molecule, over its mirror image.

“Marsden funding gives researchers the opportunity to try out ideas, to make those serendipitous findings. Projects like these lead to new discoveries that catalyse ideas for the whole research community,” said Dr Carnaby.

The Marsden Fund is administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand on behalf of the Marsden Fund Council, and funded by the New Zealand Government.

See the press release page for individual stories on some new Marsden research or see here for a table of all the recipients.

For more information please contact:
Lynley Hargreaves, lynley.hargreaves@rsnz.org, Communications Advisor – the Royal Society of New Zealand on 04 4705755