The Government is looking at merging Crown Research Institutes in a attempt to cut costs and increase efficiency.
Writing for the Press, Vernon Small covered the response from scientists.
An excerpt (read in full here):
Scientists have attacked suggestions the eight Crown research institutes could be merged into as few as three super-CRIs as “a rush of blood to the head” that will add to uncertainty and drive scientists overseas.
Science and Innovation Minister Wayne Mapp confirmed this week that he was considering calls from some CRI chiefs to restructure the sector.
Association of Scientists president James Renwick said changes to core funding would not be announced until the May Budget and would not be rolled out until July, but now the sector faced a complete shake-up.
“This smacks of a rush of blood to the head after a decade and more of inaction.”
Renwick said at the next election Mapp was due to retire and seemed to be driving thinking “rather than any strategic view of what the sector needs”.