Chairs, Board Members Named For New Science Mergers

Russell
Palmer, Political Reporter

NIWA and GNS
Science’s chairs have been named to lead two of the new
research institutes created by merging or scrapping their
current ones.

The government in January confirmed
its reform plans to merge the Institute of Geological
and Nuclear Sciences Limited (GNS Science) with the National
Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) – which
is also acquiring the MetService as a
subsidiary.

Science, Innovation and Technology
Minister Shane Reti confirmed on Wednesday that when those
organisations form the new Earth Science Institute from
July, it would be chaired by David Smol – who currently
holds that role at GNS.

The new ESI board will also
include:

• Mary-Anne Macleod – Deputy Chair for a
  two-year term (current NIWA, AgResearch, Environmental
  Protection Authority, Fire and Emergency NZ director,
  DairyNZ director)
• Paul Connell – Director for a
  three-year term (current Plant and Food Research, WorkSafe
  NZ chair and Environmental Protection Authority audit and
  risk chair)
• Paul White – Director for a two-year
  term (current GNS and Te Matapihi director, chair of Ngāi
  Tūpoto ki Motukaraka Trust, management
  consultant)
• Peter Landon-Lane – Director for a
  three-year term (current chair of AsureQuality, NIWA
  director)
• Professor Chris Bumby – Director for a
  two-year term (Victoria University of Wellington academic
  and MacDiarmid Institute principal
  investigator)

Barry Harris, who chairs NIWA,
will move to the new Bioeconomy Science Institute formed
from the merger of AgResearch, Plant and Food Research,
Scion and Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research.

The rest
of the BSI new board:

• Kim Wallace – Deputy Chair
  for a two-year term (current AgResearch and Te Manawataki o
  Te Papa chair)
• Candace Kinser – Director for a
  three-year term (current Plant & Food Research
  director)
• Andrew Morrison – Director for a two-year
  term (sheep, beef and forestry farmer, current Ovis
  Management chair, AgResearch and Wool Source Manufacturing
  director)
• Gray Baldwin – Director for a three-year
  term (dairy farmer, current Manaaki Whenua and Alliance
  director)

The current Institute of Environmental
Science and Research (ESR) is being rebranded as the
Institute for Public Health and Forensic Science, with the
current board and chair Sarah Young and remaining.

The
reforms also disestablish Callaghan Innovation, and will set
up a fourth new public research organisation focused on
advanced technologies like AI, synthetic biology and quantum
computing.

Dr Reti said the government was moving
swiftly to implement its reforms, which “are about unlocking
the full potential of science to deliver stronger economic
growth and greater resilience for New
Zealand”.

“Critically, the new research organisations
will have a strong commercial focus, with a mandate to
translate science into real-world outcomes and commercial
success. It’s not enough to have great science – we need
that science to power start-ups, lift productivity, and
create jobs. This is about turning research into results for
New Zealand’s economy,” he said.

Dr Reti said Harris
and Smol brought “outstanding leadership and deep sector
experience” and he was confident they would help deliver a
system that was more connected and commercially focused, and
“better aligned with the needs of our nation”.

After
the reforms were announced, the New Zealand Association of
Scientists (NZAS) said that while the merging of CRIs was a
good idea in principle, it
had been cherry-picked from the Science System Advisory
Group first report led by Sir Peter Gluckman – with many
other recommendations ignored.

NZAS co-president Lucy
Stewart said the changes did not seem well thought through,
considering Sir Peter’s report warned that maintaining the
science workforce should be a priority for maintaining the
overall science system, and the changes were too focused on
commercialisation.

Others
also warned of a lack
of funding commitments for new
research.

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