Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods has announced the recipients of this year’s Endeavour Fund to help tackle issues such as boosting economic performance, climate change, transport infrastructure and wellbeing.
Sixty-nine new scientific research projects were awarded over $244 million, through New Zealand’s largest contestable research fund.
This year the Government has invested over $13 million to help New Zealand transition to a low-carbon future.
Over $11 million is being invested in research to address climate change related risks, including the Scion led ‘Extreme wildfire: Our new reality – are we ready?’ and ‘Fish futures: preparing for novel freshwater ecosystems, led by Cawthron Institute.
“It’s also key that a te ao Māori worldview is integrated into our research. Manaaki Whenua’s ‘Te Weu o te Kaitiaki – Indigenous regeneration pathways’ project is a great example of this. It uses whakapapa frameworks to re-imagine biocultural solutions to restore ecological systems, reconnect people to place, and deliver sustainable economic growth for communities,” Megan Woods said.
The full list of successful projects funded through the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment 2021 Endeavour Fund Investment Round is available here
Among the successful applicants –
Landcare Research – Exploiting Fear for Integrated Pest Management (3 years) $1,000,000
Landcare Research – Pollinator management through floral microbe-mediated behavioural manipulation (3 years) $999,999
Massey University – Enhancing legume nitrogen fixation to reduce fertiliser use (3 years) $1,000,000
PlantTech Research Institute – A 3D model of radiation transport to enable high yield photosynthetic efficient crops (2 years) $1,000,000
New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research – Te tipu o nga ngaro huruhuru: managed native bees for productive agro-ecosystems (3 years) $1,000,000
New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research – The bite of the bumblebee: Biomimicry in flower synchronization (3 years) $1,000,000
New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research – Elucidating key mānuka genes determining honey value (3 years) $999,999
New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research – Stealth crops: A novel concept in pest management (3 years) $999,999
University of Canterbury – Non-invasive sap flow measurement and mechanisms for reliable tree syrup yield predictions (3 years) $999,999
University of Otago – Enhancing seed inoculants with bacteriophages to enable more sustainable agriculture (3 years) $1,000,000
University of Otago – Controlling damaging invasive pests by learning from successful biocontrol (3 years) $999,999
Lincoln Agritech Limited – Novel cellulose fibres regenerated from New Zealand plant resources for textile use (5 years) $8,292,825
Scion – Vive la résistance – achieving long-term success in managing wilding conifer invasions (5 years) $12,850,000
New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research – The Flowering Crisis: Confronting a changing climate’s threat to NZ’s tree crops (5 years) $14,500,000
Source: Minister of Research, Science and Innovation
