The Rutherford Discovery Fellowships were established in 2010 to support the career development of New Zealand’s most talented early to mid career researchers at a crucial stage in their careers. They were intended to accelerate our top researchers to become research leaders, and to help New Zealand retain its best research talent and remain internationally competitive.
This review had three stated goals:
- To assess the implementation of the Rutherford Discovery Fellowship relative to its policy objectives.
- To assess the availability of post doctoral opportunities in New Zealand and how this is changing.
- To provide evidence-based recommendations to improve the performance of government support for early to mid career researchers.
The approach included a review of documentation and statistics relevant to the design and implementation of the Fellowships, and of interviews with a range of stakeholders from within the science system.
Interviews were held at Wellington, Christchurch, Auckland and Dunedin; and included representatives from every university; all CRIs; recipients of the Fellowships; the Royal Society of New Zealand; and the Rutherford Discovery Fellowships selection panel. Respondents ranged from senior managers and Research DVCs to emerging researchers.