Cross Departmental Research Pool (CDRP) 2007/08 Funding Round

The Minister for Research, Science and Technology (RS&T) has approved the following projects for Cross Departmental Research Pool (CDRP) funding, commencing 1st July 2007.

Use the links below for more information on each project.

Lead Department	Project title	Funding
Lead Department	Project title	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10
Labour	Refugees plus ten: Perspective on settlement, identity and community	253,125	236,250	270,000
Economic Development	The Impact of Skills on New Zealand firms	40,000	150,000	60,000
Women’s Affairs	Support for victims of sexual violence	400,000	400,000
Agriculture and Forestry	Vectors and Vector Borne diseases: Ecological research and surveillance development in New Zealand	387,000	291,000
Agriculture and Forestry	A stable isotope rainfall map for the protection of New Zealand’s biological and environmental resources.	192,000	156,500	179,100
Agriculture and Forestry	Campylobacter in food and the environment: examining the link with public health	245,000	245,000	245,000
Social Development	Turning 65 – Reflecting Back: Employment Experiences and Plans for the Future	155,000
Social Development	Family turbulence and resilience in vulnerable sole parent families	170,000	183,000	190,000
Fisheries	Sea-bed habitats and biodiversity in New Zealand	380,875	200,000	200,000
Education	Employment outcomes of Tertiary Education	250,000	100,000
Total Funding		2,473,000	1,961,750	1,144,100

Descriptions of Successful Projects

Refugees plus ten: Perspective on settlement, identity and community (DoL)

This proposal builds on the methodological lessons learnt in the Refugee voices research and will draw from some of the findings from it. However, its objectives and focus are fundamentally different in that it seeks to build a platform for knowledge and understanding about integration, community capacity building, identity, citizenship and social cohesion rather than the earlier processes of adaptation and settlement service provision.

The research will investigate how refugees define themselves: in relation to New Zealand; as part of “a like community” targeted to assist new refugee arrivals; and in terms of our national identity. It will also examine views about citizenship and its role, diversity, and the measurement of successful integration. Information about refugees who arrived as children and who are now adults (1.5 generation) will better equip us to understand issues of identity maintenance, social inclusion and diversity and how we perceive ourselves as a country in the future.

The Impact of Skills on New Zealand firms (MED)

This project will investigate the impact of skills on New Zealand firms’ organisation, structure, strategy and performance. It will examine the pattern of demand, the use and the development of skills in New Zealand firms. This will involve answering three main questions:

What types of skills do firms consider to be of particular importance and find particularly difficult to find?
How do firms identify and respond to skill gaps?
How does this affect their performance in terms of their profitability, growth, organisational structure and strategy?

Support for victims of sexual violence (MWA)

This project will provide evidence-based advice to improve the safety and longer term wellbeing of adult victims of sexual violence, and increase offender accountability by identifying:

the key points at which, and reasons why, different groups of victims opt in and out of the criminal justice system;
the basis for victims’ decisions about accessing non-criminal justice services such as counselling or other support;
the key points at which government and non‑government intervention and support is most effective;
ways to improve the likelihood of victims making formal complaints, where appropriate, and persisting through the criminal justice process; and
options to improve service delivery within the criminal justice system.

Vectors and Vector Borne diseases: Ecological research and surveillance development in New Zealand (MAF)

The outcome of this project will be a targeted, risk-based surveillance capability for vectors and vector-borne diseases for New Zealand. Once developed through this research project, the capability will become a component of New Zealand’s biosecurity surveillance programme.

Risk-based biosecurity surveillance systems maximise the utility of information derived from the available resource through:

targeting highest risk organisms (determined by consideration of both likelihood of arrival and establishment in New Zealand AND impact to biosecurity values); and
employing sampling strategies which maximise detection probability.

A stable isotope rainfall map for the protection of New Zealand’s biological and environmental resources (MAF)

This research will provide a tool that allows point of origin claims to be verified for a wide range of biological materials. It is a broad based tool, applicable to any species, live or dead. The basis for the tool is development of a stable isotope map of New Zealand rainfall which will be used to establish and verify origin of specimens of interest to at least unique island (New Zealand) levels of accuracy. The project builds on the limited isotope map being established by BNZ and will extend the map to encompass all of New Zealand. This will ensure that the map is not only useful to BNZ and DoC, but will provide a valuable resource to a range of NZ departments and agencies.

Campylobacter in food and the environment: examining the link with public health (MAF/MfE)

This collaborative project between NZFSA and the Ministry for the Environment, with support from the Ministry of Health, will unify approaches to risk modelling and management for pathogens that are acquired via both food and environmental pathways. It will deliver robust intervention strategies that can be adopted by various government departments and regulatory agencies.

Turning 65 – Reflecting Back: Employment Experiences and Plans for the Future (MSD)

This research will look at the work history and characteristics of a cohort at 65 years (the age of eligibility for New Zealand Superannuation), asking these people to describe their involvement in work over the past 10 years; awareness and use of retirement and employment related services or supports, and how effective these were; and their work and retirement plans for the future and their reasons for these.
The objectives of this research are to:

better understand recent work histories and retirement plans of New Zealanders at the age of eligibility for New Zealand Superannuation;
identify the drivers for continued involvement in work, and for particular retirement approaches;
examine employment and retirement pathways for different groups in the survey; and
explore how employment and retirement services and supports have met the needs of the survey cohort over the last 10 years, and identify the supports required by New Zealanders now and into the future, whether continuing in employment or transitioning to retirement.

Family turbulence and resilience in vulnerable sole parent families (MSD)

This research programme comprising eight work streams that aim to improve our knowledge base for public policy by:

increasing our understanding of vulnerability in sole parent families;
identifying sources of resilience that enable some vulnerable families to achieve good social and economic outcomes, including:
- supports from family, peers, former partners, community, state
- family processes (dynamics, roles, rituals and practices)
- employment and education.
identifying policies and interventions that are effective in reducing vulnerability and building resilience.

Sea-bed habitats and biodiversity in New Zealand (MFish)

This project will benefit all New Zealanders, from Government to stakeholders, scientists, businesses and the public by:

increasing knowledge of the biodiversity values of offshore habitats;
supporting the continued development of a sustainable, ecosystem approach to fishery and resource management;
reducing uncertainty about the potentially adverse effects of bottom trawling (through the first ecological assessment of marine habitats and their vulnerability at a spatial scale matching that of resource use); and
ensuring that the full value of Oceans 20/20 data is realised and the results made accessible to the public, scientific community, and management agencies.

Employment outcomes of Tertiary Education (MinEdu)

The Employment Outcomes of Tertiary Education project will explore the feasibility of integrating data on tertiary enrolments and completions with Linked Employer-Employee Data in order to:

provide official statistics and research reports on the employment outcomes for people who undertake tertiary education and training – and also on how the tertiary education system and the labour market interact;
produce new official statistics on human capital, firm productivity and economic performance; and
assist government decisions on investment in tertiary education

Page updated 16 Feb 2007