
Latest news and updates
Lincoln Ag: Feeding a love of science
February 2025: Research Scientist Dr Joseph Nelson (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Raukawa) didn't need any persuading when the call went out for volunteers to help at the MacDiarmid Institute DiscoveryCamp over summer.
The annual residential camp for Māori and Pacific Island year 12 and 13 students brings rangatahi (young people) from around the country to do research with MacDiarmid Institute scientists, feeding their love of science and helping them decide on their careers. This year, it was in Ōtautahi (Christchurch).
“I first heard about the camp when a call went out for volunteers to help out as organisers, camp chaperones, helpers with lab visits, and experiment sessions,” says Joseph, who is an Associate Investigator on two MacDiarmid Institute research projects.
“I remember attending my own high school summer camp, now more than 20 years ago in Auckland. This was quite a formative experience for me in terms of deciding my next steps after high school, and the camp volunteers were a big part of that. So, I was keen to volunteer.”
Joseph (top of the table) helps rangatahi in a lab session on dye-sensitised fruit-based solar cells, with camp organiser and MacDiarmid Institute Principal Investigator Professor Martin Allen, from the University of Canterbury (foreground). Photo: Lincoln Agritech.
Cawthron: Independent science could break stalemate in global plastics treaty
February 2025: A global coalition of scientists is still working to realise a “once in a life-time opportunity” to address the plastics crisis after a stalemate prevented progress during the United Nations Global Plastics Treaty negotiations in Korea late last year.
In an article published in early February in Cambridge Prisms: Plastics, the coalition outlined the reasons for the failure to reach consensus in negotiations. The body of over 400 independent scientists also called for support to continue work that underpins the efforts of the 'coalition of the willing' - over 100 UN member states who are committed to establishing a treaty.
Coordinator of the Scientists' Coalition, Cawthron Institute researcher Professor Trisia Farrelly, said a clear majority of member states came to the Busan negotiations in good faith, but their efforts were undermined by a minority of around 30 countries, including powerful petrostates, that are intentionally blocking progress.
“It is disappointing, but not surprising, that petrostates and the plastics industry increasingly resist regulations that would require them to take responsibility for the social, economic, and environmental costs of business,” Farrelly said.
Professor Trisia Farrelly ONZM speaks during the 3rd Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee. Photo: IISD.
Facebook Feed
Welcome to the Independent Research Association of New Zealand
IRANZ is an association of independent research organisations. IRANZ represents the collective interests of members by undertaking activities aimed at creating a positive operating environment for Independent Research Organisations in New Zealand.
IRANZ member organisations make vital contributions to a broad range of scientific fields, and offer an important complement to university-based and Crown Research Institute research. Our smaller sizes and greater flexibility provide an environment that is particularly conducive to innovation and end-user engagement.
IRANZ member organisations:
- Are ‘independent’ (non-government owned);
- Carry out high-quality scientific research, development or technology transfer;
- Have strong linkages with end-users;
- Work in a diverse range of settings and subject specialities;
- Derive a significant portion of their work from Government research contracts;
- Collaborate with universities, Crown Research Institutes and research departments of industrial organisations; and
- Having varying governance and ownership arrangements.
Find out more about IRANZ and our members by checking out our News page.