Tēnā koutou,
Please find attached a press release on the cuts to the Marsden fund, announced yesterday by the Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology.
These cuts to the humanities and social sciences funding will have a devastating impact on our research.
The Minister claims that what makes a ‘real impact’ on our economy is ‘areas such as physics, chemistry, maths, engineering and biomedical sciences’.
This is a dangerously narrow and impoverished view. As many scientists have pointed out, scientific research and innovation depend on critical interventions from humanities and social science scholars.
We call on the government to recognize the value of this work and reverse the devastating decision to stop supporting our research.
The letter is signed by the following associations:
New Zealand Historical Association
Professional Historians’ Association of New Zealand Aotearoa
Linguistic Society of New Zealand
Aotearoa Communication and Media Studies Network
New Zealand Association for the Study of Religions
Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand Communications Association
Journalism Educators of New Zealand Association
Archives and Records Association of New Zealand
International Communications Association
New Zealand Political Studies Association | Te Kāhui Tātai Tōrangapū o Aotearoa
Australia New Zealand Shakespeare Association
New Zealand Asian Studies Society
Pacific History Association
Association for the Study of Literature, Environment and Culture, Australia and New Zealand
Romantic Studies Association of Australasia
Australasian Society for Classical Studies
New Zealand Archaeological Association
Australasian Association of European History
Australian Association for Pacific Studies
Australian and New Zealand American Studies Association
Association of Social Anthropologists of Aotearoa / New Zealand
George Rudé Society
South Pacific Association of Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies
New Zealand Modernist Studies Consortium
National Oral History Association of New Zealand
Australia and New Zealand Law and History Society
SAANZ – Sociological Association of Aotearoa New Zealand
Irish Studies Association of Australia and New Zealand
New Zealand Geographical Society
Australasian Women in Ancient World Studies
AAANZ (Art Association of Australia & New Zealand)
Applied Linguistics in Aotearoa New Zealand
TESOLANZ Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
Australia and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Early Modern Studies
(The original statement, as released on 5 December may be found below. Further signatories have since been added and that is reflected in the online version linked to above:
The New Zealand Historical Association 