The National Science Challenges (NSC) were 11 ten-year collaborative science programmes in
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
, established in 2014 and ending mid-2024. They were "cross-disciplinary, mission-led programmes designed to tackle New Zealand's biggest science-based challenges", funded through the
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment ( MBIE; ) is the public service department of New Zealand charged with "delivering policy, services, advice and regulation" which contribute to New Zealand's economic productivity and business ...
.
Establishment
The NSC initiative was developed over 2012–13 by the New Zealand government's Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) as a restructure of national scientific research funding.
Established in advance of the 2014 general election, the Challenges were funded with $680.8 million over ten years, broken into two five-year phases.
The science challenges they address were intended to be "the most important national-scale issues facing New Zealand".
The challenges were collaborative and multi-disciplinary, creating new teams of researchers drawn from universities and other research institutions,
iwi
Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English.
...
,
Crown Research Institutes
In New Zealand, Crown Research Institutes (CRIs) are corporatised Crown entities charged with conducting scientific research. In January 2025, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced plans to merge the existing crown research institutes into ...
, businesses, community organisations, and
NGOs
A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...
.
The Challenges shared five principles, summarised by MBIE as:
# Mission-led
# Science quality
# Best research team collaboration
# Stakeholder engagement & public participation
#
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
involvement and
mātauranga
The selection process involved a period of public consultation over late 2012–early 2013, and then selection by a "peak panel" of researchers, chaired by
Peter Gluckman
Sir Peter David Gluckman (born 8 February 1949) is a New Zealand scientist. Originally trained as a paediatrician, he served as the inaugural Chief Science Advisor to the New Zealand Prime Minister from 2009 to 2018. He is a founding member an ...
.
The selection panel consisted of
William Denny, Ian Ferguson, Peter Hunter,
Mary O’Kane,
Jacqueline Rowarth,
Richie Poulton
Richie Graham Poulton (1962 – 29 September 2023) was a New Zealand psychologist and the director of the University of Otago's Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health & Development Research Unit, which runs the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and De ...
,
Charles Royal, David Penman, Elf Eldridge, and Rachael Wiltshire.

The first phase of funding from 2013 to 2018 led to eleven Challenges being established beginning in 2014; the last was launched on 5 May 2016. At the midway review in 2018 the Challenges received their second tranche of funding ($320 million) to last from 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2024.
Expert reaction to the review highlighted concerns over the way the challenges were initially selected, and whether the cost of governance means more could have been achieved through investing in existing funding mechanisms. The president of the
New Zealand Association of Scientists
The New Zealand Association of Scientists is an independent association for scientists in New Zealand. It was founded in 1941 as the New Zealand Association of Scientific Workers, and renamed in 1954.Gregory, G., 2013. Not to be forgotten: New ...
, Heide Friedrich, said “The New Zealand Association of Scientists has concerns if the review process asked the right questions, given the recommendation is to approve the second tranche of funding without changes."
Shaun Hendy
Shaun Cameron Hendy is a New Zealand physicist. He is the chief scientist at climate innovation company Toha. He was previously a professor at the University of Auckland and was the first director of Te Pūnaha Matatini, a centre of research ...
commented that "After some public input, the National Science Challenges were more or less selected by a panel led by Sir Peter Gluckman but most of us still find this process rather mysterious."
A 2016 critique of the programme asserted that although "Māori involvement and mātauranga" was one of the core principles of their establishment, the National Science Challenges "moved to marginalize input by Māori researchers. Māori research approaches and complaints were recorded by the MBIE in NSC documents, but not substantively addressed".
Subsequently the organisation Rauika Māngai was created, a group of Māori researchers representing the eleven National Science Challenges and
Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga
Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM) is New Zealand's Māori Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE). It was established in 2002 and is hosted by the University of Auckland with 21 research partners and is funded, like other CoRE's, by the Tertiary E ...
(Aotearoa New Zealand's Centre of Māori Research Excellence). Rauika Māngai worked with the Challenges to improve partnerships with Māori communities and implement the 2020
Vision Mātauranga policy.
Challenges
References
{{Reflist
External links
Interview with Peter Gluckmanabout his hopes for the science challenges (''Nature'', paywalled)