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Surely they are taking the piss

by Whaleoil on December 15, 2009

The Royal Society has released the latest Marsden Fund  grants.

A quick glance through and I have come to the conclusion that surely they are taking the piss.

For instance Dr CD Moon at AgResearch has been granted $760,000 over three years to study “How air affects mutation and adaptation – a dissection of the evolutionary process” and Dr AC Lyons, Dr TN McCreanor and Dr F Hutton have literally hit the jackpot with a grant of $864,000 to study “Young adults, drinking stories and the cult of celebrity”.

Good grief, do they get to follow Pork Chop around for three years?

Dr G Lear only scored $100,000 per annum for the study of  “Are all individuals created equal? Testing Hubbell’s neutral theory”. FFS surely that has already been proven time and again. Remember this plonker probably has tenure as well.

Dr Jane Kelsey, well known socialist meddler also scored two years funding for a total of $336,000 for the study of  “Confronting the contradictions of New Zealand’s embedded neoliberalism in a post-neoliberal era”. Uhhhhm, if neoliberalism is embedded it can hardly be a post-neoliberal era can it?

One can only describe these grants and nothing more than a cunning stunt to enable excessive troughing in the academic sector.

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  • Buggerlugs

    They could research the Impact Of Three Vegan Meals A Day at http://climatecamp.org.nz/2009
    Plonkers. I might apply for funding for my study of Women: Do They Really Want To Know What Men Are Thinking? or Beer: How Much Is Too Much?
    Reckon those two should be worth a mill over three years.

  • petal

    There was a time I cared about the Marsden grants. But **** it – the self serving cr*p that comes from it these days. Real science is, once again, in the domain of the self-funded ‘amateur’.

  • gomango

    Here’s one I can relate to: “Degenerate operators”. What ever that is.

    But to be fair, about 80-90% of the grant list does look to be in the hard sciences, with lots of basic material research, ag and medical related stuff. A few sops to the sociology researchers is unfortunate, but I guess they demand a place at the trough.

  • Johnboy

    “Dr AC Lyons, Dr TN McCreanor and Dr F Hutton have literally hit the jackpot with a grant of $864,000 to study “Young adults, drinking stories and the cult of celebrity”.

    “Christ Boys did I ever tell you about the time me and me four mates took six kegs and four crates of spirits down to our block at Little Kuri on Stewart Island. No! Well guess what we shot fuck all deer but christ were we pissed and then this female tramping party turned up!—no shit fifteen of them! ——etc.etc.”

    That should be worth at least $200,000 as a drinking story (specially if I filled in the etc.etc. bit).

    Make the cheque out to —Johnboy. Thanks Guys.

  • Naylor

    Oh FFS, here we go again with a whole new bunch of troughers. Some cardigan wearing self proclaimed liberal elite ripping of the taxpayer. What a complete load of shit. They should get into the real world and get a real job.

    What’s the bet that trougher Shane Kawenata Bradbrook is donkey deep in this pile of taxpayer funds as well.

  • Pat

    What is the issue with Dr G Lear testing Hubbell’s neutral theory? Do you know something about the unified neutral theory of biodiversity that the rest of us don’t? Or did you just look at the title without understanding what they are acutally testing?

  • Scanner

    This looks like a better trough than parliment, where do I sign, I’ve spoken to Mary Anne Thopsmon and shes hooked me up with some credentials.