GIGO

Science Structure Changes

This month sees a lot of changes. As many of you will have noticed, the NZSM has changed considerably with this issue. Our thanks to those who have provided ideas for improvements. We've taken all your suggestions into account, and some you will find taking form in this issue.

Occasionally we've wondered if we've spent too much time considering the problems of funding and science policy. At the moment, however, these are major issues which are going to have important ramifications for the future, not only of science in New Zealand, but ultimately for the country itself.

New Zealand's science structure and science policy are undergoing considerable change at the moment. It is startling to find how few people outside the science community are aware of the changes, let alone their implications. That may not be unreasonable, however, given the difficulties of getting to grips with the subject.

I've been struggling with this story for almost two years. At times, it has seemed that no-one really knew what was going on -- they were just hoping that it would all pan out well in the end. Communication appeared to have come to a grinding halt, despite the flurry of papers, reports, surveys and statements.

Perhaps the most dismaying thing I have noticed about the restructuring has been the amount of fear, bitterness, misery and anger that it appears to have caused. It seems that much of this could have been allayed had better, clearer communications prevailed.

We have been lucky in having a science community that has managed to do work to international standards on suburban budgets. If that community becomes too alienated -- and this seems a very real possibility -- we may well see a slow death for science in this country.

It is to be hoped that, rather than death throes, these struggles mark a new birth for New Zealand science. Blood and pain are as much a part of the process of birth as is new life. Whether our science community needed quite so much of it remains a question.

Vicki Hyde is the editor of New Zealand Science Monthly.