UC academic appointed to national funding board
14 January 2011
Professor Richard Blaikie of the University of Canterbury's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has been named as a member of the new Science Board that will decide funding for science in New Zealand.
Professor Richard Blaikie of the University of Canterbury's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has been named as a member of the new Science Board that will decide funding for science in New Zealand.
Professor Blaikie, who is the Director of the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, is one of eight members announced by Research, Science and Technology Minister Wayne Mapp.
The Science Board and the newly created Innovation Board will be associated with the new Ministry of Science and Innovation. The Science Board will allocate science funding to research organisations while the Innovation Board will make funding decisions related to business-facing programmes.
"These boards will be key players in the Government's reforms to improve the science and innovation system," Dr Mapp said.
"They will help ensure that New Zealand businesses are innovative, internationally competitive and contributing to economic growth. They will fund the high-quality research needed to increase productivity and raise our standard of living.
"We have appointed some of New Zealand's top scientists, business people and innovation experts to the boards.
"The Innovation Board will be chaired by Dr William Rolleston, who has extensive experience in the sector. Professor Sir David Skegg, one of our most distinguished scientists, will chair the Science Board."
The new Ministry of Science and Innovation, which becomes fully operational on 1 February, will support and monitor the boards.
Professor Blaikie has 20 years experience as a scientist and engineer in the private sector, and for an inter-institutional collaborative research organisation. He has had direct involvement in decision-making for a range of national and international science funding bodies. He has been appointed to the board for two years.
UC alumnus Grant Ryan, a Canterbury-based inventor and entrepreneur, has been appointed to the Innovation Board for a term of three years. Dr Ryan has a BE(Hons) in mechanical engineering and a PhD in chemical and process engineering from the University of Canterbury. He has founded a number of companies including YikeBike and Eurekster.
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