Millions go to Maori science

An official involved in public funding of science says the Government is aiming to spend between 5 per cent and 10 per cent of its annual $280 million investment on research specifically benefiting Maori.

The Foundation for Research, Science and Technology's group manager of investment operations, Peter Benfell, said last night the foundation would develop a Maori innovation strategy over the next year.

But it would not lower the standards of research it funds to meet those targets and might need to work towards achieving them over a number of years.

Part of the strategy would address concerns that the issue of Maori knowledge (matauranga Maori) was not being addressed adequately.

Whether a Maori science exists or not has been debated since the question of funding such a sector was put aside a decade ago in the creation of the Crown research institutes.

Bureaucrats have had difficulty matching the way the Government's science fund classifies mainstream science subjects with Maori knowledge, which takes a more holistic world view.

In 1996, a foundation report said that despite "a pressing need" to fund the recording and preservation of traditional knowledge, much of it was not eligible for public funding because it was too iwi-specific, confidential, or not research producing economic benefits.

The then Science Minister, Simon Upton, noted that the traditional knowledge included biological, geological and climate history needed by mainstream scientists.

Mr Benfell yesterday said a recent assessment of some research areas had led to the targets of between 5 per cent and 10 per cent for money going to research "that has a good level of involvement with Maori".

He estimated the foundation's present level of such funding was about 3 per cent.

The overall involvement of Maori in science and in gaining high-level science qualifications was relatively low, he said.

Part of this was a generic problem, where science had difficulty in attracting young people, "but it seems particularly difficult to attract young Maori into science".

However, the foundation did not believe there would be any gain in funding "Maori science" separately.

"We think the gains are to be made in integrating Maori involvement in the research that's being undertaken."

The foundation had a small portfolio, about $2 million a year, which tended to focus on Maori research by Maori researchers, "but it's certainly not our intention to set up large funds of that nature".

Mr Benfell said there had been no overall review of funding Maori research since 1996, when there were pilot studies into how foundation policies reflected Maori interests, a database created of Maori consultants, and fellowships instituted to promote their training.

"We've begun work on a Maori innovation strategy, and as part of it we will be doing that sort of work."

- NZPA