You might think that a national organisation awarding research grants would fund the best proposals. You might even think that funding decisions would be made by experts who can identify quality when they see it. 

The Royal Society Te Apārangi oversees the awarding of the prestigious Marsden grants. In its 2024 round, Marsden funding went to truly cutting-edge projects. 

One research team was funded to interrogate racist narratives relating to outsize roadside objects like Ohakune’s ‘Big Carrot.’ Another, to investigate ways to link celestial spheres with end-of-life experiences. The latter project secured a cool $861k. 

Important stuff, and well worth every dollar, I’m sure. A cynic might think projects focussing on, say, treating cancer or fusion energy should take higher priority. But these things are subjective. 

The Royal Society oversees other grants as well. One is the Mana Tūāpapa Future Leader Fellowship. That scheme funds early career researchers for four years. Twenty successful applicants each receive a salary of $82k per annum plus research expenses.  

There were a couple of things about the way the Fellowships were awarded this year that might elevate your eyebrows if you think merit should be the main criterion. For one thing, at least 20% of the Fellowships had to go to Māori applicants, at least 10% to Pasifika, and at least 50% to women.  

Female scholars, especially, need more support. After all, only 60% of New Zealand’s university graduates are women. By happy coincidence, women made up the same proportion of Fellowship applicants. 

Affirmative action is nothing new. The Royal Society’s true innovation was to award the Fellowships at random. Almost at random, anyway. They did rigorously screen the 327 proposals for quality. Seven were ruthlessly culled.   

The 320 proposals clearing this high bar went into a random draw – or for candidates belonging to all three favoured categories, a series of draws. 

The first included only Māori applicants, to make up the obligatory 20%. Unsuccessful Māori who happened also to be Pasifika joined other Pasifika applicants in the second round. Unsuccessful women from the first two rounds were then entered in the third. Men of African, Asian or European ancestry had to wait for the final round for a single chance at whatever was left. 

Allocating grants at random suggests that the Royal Society doesn’t back itself to pick winners. Perhaps they should simply outsource the 2025 round to the Lotteries Commission.