KEY POINTS:
An "act of God" is all that would bring a world-leading New Zealand physicist home.
Professor Murray Barrett told the Weekend Herald the effort required to receive research funding in New Zealand was "laughable".
When funding did arrive, it was so small as to be almost unusable.
He
is one of many New Zealand scientists now working and researching overseas _ many blaming the low funding of research for their move.
That lack of funding has been blasted by 460 of the country's scientists, who say basic research funding here is three times below many other OECD countries.
Professor Barrett said constant requirements to justify his meagre funding through written submissions wore him down.
Now at the National University of Singapore, his take-home pay is three times what it was in New Zealand. His research funds per month are roughly what they were a year in New Zealand.
The Marsden Fund - New Zealand's premier source of public funding for "blue skies" research - dishes out about $39 million each year.
In an open letter to Science Minister Pete Hodgson, the 460 New Zealand scientists called on the Government to triple the Marsden Fund.
Adelaide University professor of chemistry Andrew Abell believes such an increase would not go far enough. An Australian, Professor Abell spent more than 20 years working in New Zealand but says he was driven away by our lack of science funding and vision.
"I left New Zealand because I didn't see any future in science there. The opportunities, the long-term prospects of doing good science in New Zealand, were quite limited."
A proposal of his to research cataract treatments was turned down for funding from the Marsden Fund.
New Zealand's research community lacked vision at both university and Government level, he said.
Research prospects in Australia were far from perfect, but were considerably better than in New Zealand.
"At the moment a lot of people [in New Zealand] are just giving up. Maybe 10 per cent of people over there are doing reasonably well. But the rest are just twiddling their thumbs.
"There's some great things that have come out of New Zealand over the years. But times have changed. It's time to move up a gear."
Turning the situation around would require more than just money, although a five-fold increase in the Marsden Fund would be a good start, he said.
The ministry knows there are problems. On the ministry website, the dossier prepared for Mr Hodgson when he took over the portfolio last year made it clear how important research funding was to New Zealand _ and how poor the present model was.
Funding levels were far below OECD averages, business growth was being "inhibited", while Government measures aimed at supporting to research, development and innovation were "fragmented" and lacking "cohesiveness".
