RHA statement condemning the Marsden fund cuts in Aotearoa New Zealand
The Religious History Association states its unequivocal opposition to the disbanding of the Social Sciences and Humanities Panel of the Marsden Fund. This will remove funding for arts, humanities and social sciences researchers in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The impact of this decision will be disastrous not only for researchers, but also for the reputation of Aotearoa New Zealand as a place where blue-skies research can flourish in all its disciplinary forms and where intellectually diverse thinking matters and is valued.
Aotearoa New Zealand has been a locus of outstanding scholarship in religious history, research which – as well other other humanities, arts and social sciences fields – is foundational for democratic and social cohesion.
The decision to cut funding is wrongly premised on the notion that tangible social impacts can only be found in the economic outcomes of STEM research. Already in Aotearoa New Zealand the fastest growing sector in its economy is the arts and creative sector. The disciplines and fields of research that constitute this sector are not siloed; they work with medicine, science, technology, economics, business and more to produce cutting-edge transdisciplinary research with critical social and economic outcomes. Cutting funding to arts, humanities and social sciences will only impoverish research and research outcomes everywhere.
Humanity’s big questions can only be answered with the input of arts, humanities and social sciences research; a creative society can only flourish with support for the arts; societies can only cohere when our histories, ideas, languages and literatures are explored, questioned and able to flourish.
The Religious History Association condemns this ill-advised decision and calls for its reversal.
Professor Megan Cassidy-Welch
President, Religious History Association, on behalf of the committee