Call for Contributions: Early Career Researcher Perspectives on the Changing Research System

Aotearoa New Zealand’s research system is undergoing a period of transformation. Restructuring across the research sector, budget cuts, changes to major funding schemes such as Marsden and Endeavour, and the merging of Crown Research Institutes into newly formed Public Research Organisations (PROs) are among the changes that are reshaping the environment in which research is carried out. 

Following special issues focusing on the crisis in our universities and the wider research system, New Zealand Science Review seeks contributions from Early Career Researchers (ECRs) who are navigating this period of uncertainty and transition. We aim to collect reflections grounded in personal experience and informed by broader observations to document this moment and its implications for the future of research in Aotearoa. Innovative solutions to the systemic challenges we face are particularly welcome.

We invite short pieces (400-800 words) that explore, for example:

• How institutional restructuring and funding shifts appear to be shaping your research and career plans relative to historic precedent or what drew you to research
• Changes in collaboration, research direction, or access to mentoring and support
• Experiences specific to Māori, Pacific, and other underrepresented researchers
• What is being lost—and what might be emerging—in this moment of transition
• Your hopes, concerns, and visions for a more inclusive and sustainable research system

We define ECRs broadly and include anyone in the first ten years of their research journey based in universities, PROs, wānanga, the public or private sectors, or working in independent or community-based research.

Please note: We recognise that candid commentary may involve professional risk. While all submitting authors must identify themselves during the submission process, requests for anonymous publication will be respected.

Deadline for submissions: 30 September 2025

To contribute or to ask questions about relevance, article length, or other details, please email: editor@scientists.org.nz. All submissions will be reviewed and edited by a member of the editorial board and will not undergo the standard peer review process.