NZHR has lodged a submission on MBIE’s Future Pathways Green Paper. It’s given us an opportunity to point out that health research has historically been both under-prioritised and underfunded, and to present the case for having these issues addressed while at the same time contributing to the development of New Zealand’s RSI system as a whole. Among other things we’ve said that:

• Imminent and serious risks to New Zealanders’ health and well-being should be key considerations when identifying research priorities
• There should be greater government investment in all forms of R&D including health research
• More work should be done to explore how the health research system can best uphold Te Tiriti obligations and opportunities
• The RSI system should dispense with current requirements for different research disciplines to compete with each other for scarce generic resources in favour of larger allocations associated with each research priority, with the actual amount and growth trajectory determined by the sector’s share of GDP, and potential for environmental impact, impact on health and wellbeing, and economic impact.
• There should be greater focus on pathways to impact
• A health (or health and social science) CRI-like entity should be created to undertake and fund health and medical research, provide for health research workforce development and retention, and facilitate processes for translating research results into policy and practice
• Momentum in the implementation of the Government’s existing Health Research Strategy should be both maintained and lifted, with its principles incorporated into the forthcoming RSI White Paper

Click here to see the full submission