Diversity In MBIE Science Investments

We are committed to understanding and promoting diversity in science and research. We believe that everyone should have a fair and equal opportunity to participate in the science system to their fullest potential. It is our intent that this data is used to inform a pathway to equity in the science system and enable it to better reflect the diversity of Aotearoa.

Diversity in Science Statement

Te Tauaki a MBIE mō te Matahuhuatanga i te Pūtaiao - Te reo Māori translation of the Diversity in Science Statement

Our diversity datasets

Our diversity statement is our first step towards raising awareness of the importance of diversity in science and signals our commitment to do more in this space. As part of this commitment, since 2019 we have invited key roles in MBIE science funding applications to provide us with details on age, gender, ethnicity, and career stage as part of the application process. From 2024 completing this section is mandatory – however individuals still have the option not to provide information and this is grouped in ‘No information given’ rows. Individuals fulfilling key roles in a proposal are required to individually register in our contract and application management system, and then invited to enter details on their gender, ethnicity, age, and career stage. The same information is also captured for the assessors selected to assess funding proposals.

This dataset allows you to download and analyse the diversity data we have collected from applicants and assessors since 2019. It provides a picture of the diversity of our funding applications, whether successful or not, by fund, year, and information type. This information is updated annually.

MBIE science grants diversity data [XLSX, 295 KB]

Caveats:

• The diversity data has been anonymised.
• To preserve anonymity where there is a small count of people the data has been random rounded to base 3. This means that:

1. 1. A number less than or equal to 3 is displayed as ‘3’
   2. A number that is a multiple of 3 is unchanged
   3. A number that is not in a or b is rounded to the nearest multiple of 3 two-thirds of the time, and to the next nearest multiple of 3 one-third of the times. For example, 10 will become 9 two-thirds of times, and will become 12 one-third of times.

• Random Rounding is applied to the actual value in the ‘All’ rows. I.e. the sum of the counts will not equal the ‘All’ value.
• Individuals were able to identify up to three ethnicities and as many project team roles as they identified with meaning that some individuals may have been counted more than once.
• There was no limit imposed on the number of roles an individual could perform in an Endeavour application, therefore some applications may have listed more than one person in each role.
• Ethnicity data was collected based on the 2005 Statistics New Zealand Level 2 Classifications for ethnicity.
• The 'Pasifika' ethnicity category incorporates the following ethnicities and sub-categories: 'Fijian', 'Cook Islands Maori', 'Tongan', 'Samoan', ''Niuean', 'Tokelauan' 'Pacific Peoples' and 'Other Pacific Peoples'
• The 'Other' ethnicity category incorporates the following ethnicities and sub-categories: 'Other European', 'Asian', 'Southeast Asian', 'Indian', 'Other Asian', 'Middle Eastern', 'Latin American', 'African' 'Other Ethnicity' and when an individual did not know what their ethnicity was
• 'No information given' represents individuals who did not give information on this aspect, or who indicated they preferred not to say.