The aim of this paper is to outline the impact Coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 has had on health research in New Zealand. We used data from the University of Otago, Christchurch, a research intensive satellite campus of the University of Otago with a large number of research only grant funded staff to highlight challenges and opportunities. All non-COVID-19 related laboratory and clinical research was suspended under New Zealand COVID-19 alert level 4 and the majority under level 3. To date, researchers predict that 95% of research projects have been affected. During the periods of lockdown research salaries continued to be paid from grants resulting in a ‘salary gap’ to support research staff (both academic and technical). Most funders have indicated there will be no additional funding to support researchers affected by the delays. Early and mid-career researchers have been particularly affected and are currently unable to travel for post-doctoral training and networking. A more robust career structure with adequate funding, particularly for early and mid-career researchers is required to ensure that New Zealand has a stable research work force to address the next health crisis.

Introduction

The response from New Zealand toward the COVID-19 global pandemic demonstrated the vital importance of a strong and vibrant research sector. A number of researchers from a variety of disciplines played key roles in advising government and policy makers about public health strategies, modelling disease spread, virology, and vaccines. The success of the New Zealand response in combating COVID-19 was grounded in science and research with subsequent communication and translation into policy and practice.

Funding health and biomedical research in New Zealand has always been challenging and the career prospects of a health researcher are often precarious. The effects of the COVID-19 global pandemic on research in New Zealand brings additional challenges as well as opportunities. Not only was all non-COVID-19 related laboratory and clinical research suspended under New Zealand government COVID-19 alert level 4 and the majority under level 3, but the effect on the New Zealand and global economy along with travel restrictions will bring challenges to researchers and research productivity well into the future. The pandemic has highlighted long-standing issues in the health research system that warrant a rethink including low levels of funding, lack of strategic basis for funding allocation and lack of clear career pathways. As we move on from this crisis, we need to ensure the long-term viability and sustainability of our health research community so they will continue addressing current and future health challenges and will be ready to provide expert advice during the next health crisis.

In this paper, we will outline the challenges COVID-19 has placed on health researchers and the New Zealand health research system as well as opportunities it has created. We will use data from the University of Otago, Christchurch campus to highlight the impact of this pandemic.

COVID-19 timeline and impact of National Alert levels

With the arrival of COVID-19 into New Zealand, the government established a National Alert system. shows the time line of New Zealand’s initial transition through the four Alert levels. New Zealand moved quickly to the highest Alert Level 4 (‘lockdown’) with closure of all but essential services (). All non-COVID-19 related laboratory-based research across the country ceased, compromising data collection and in some cases halting experiments, some irretrievably, many that had taken months to establish or used costly reagents. All clinical research including publicly-funded clinical trials was shut down with the exception of assessing research participants with adverse events that required urgent medical attention. The halting of clinical research led to multiple protocol violations resulting in data anomalies that have to be dealt with, potentially compromising the results of clinical trials. During Alert Level 3 some research deemed ‘critical’ recommenced with marked restrictions on access to laboratories and face-to-face interactions between researchers, as well as between researchers and research participants. For example, at the University of Otago, Christchurch only 37/150 (24.7%) lab-based researchers were deemed critical and allowed access during level 3. As New Zealand transitioned into Alert Level 2 and then to Alert Level 1, research gradually returned to ‘normal’. However, research that is dependent on equipment, reagents or samples from other countries has been further affected by supply chain issues resulting from business closures overseas and transportation issues in response to COVID-19. Many research projects therefore face further delays with no certainty about when a more stable supply chain will be re-established. This has been further exacerbated more recently with new infections and community transmission cases requiring moving affected regions of the country back to higher alert levels (e.g. Level 3 in Auckland from August 2020). It seems likely that there may be transition in and out of alert levels regionally in the coming months causing further delays and disruptions to research.

Figure 1. Time line of COVID-19 alert levels. Figure adapted from New Zealand Ministry of Health website https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-current-situation/covid-19-current-cases#curve [Accessed 14 June 2020].

Effect on University funding and contribution of universities to the economy

In New Zealand, universities are funded by government tuition grants and Performance Based Research Funding (42%) administered by the Tertiary Education Commission and by student tuition fees (28%), with the remainder coming from competitive research grant funding, commercial contracts and other revenue (e.g. philanthropy). Each year, international students pay ∼$340 million to study at universities in New Zealand with additional spending on accommodation and living expenses contributing to the New Zealand economy (New Zealand Institute of Economic Research 2016). The loss of international students will have a significant effect on university revenue as well as flow-on effects to the wider economy. Universities also contribute to economic activity through commercial research and innovation, and more indirectly through the application of knowledge to increase productivity.

New Zealand has already seen job losses as a result of COVID-19 and it is predicted that there will more in the coming months/year (Careers.govt.nz 2020). Researchers will not be ‘immune’ to the contraction in the economy and rise in unemployment. An Australian Government report in May 2020 estimated Australian University job losses of up to 21,000 full time equivalent (FTE) positions over the subsequent six months, of which an estimated 7000 could be research-related academic staff (Finkel 2020). The University of New South Wales has announced the loss of ∼500 jobs due to the financial effects of COVID-19 (Kennedy 2020). Job losses have been signalled at several universities including Auckland, Victoria and Waikato in the form of voluntary redundancy if the borders are not open to foreign students in the near future (Collins 2020). The University of Otago, while taking a financial hit, appears to be less affected than other universities due to a longstanding policy limiting overseas students to <15% of the roll. The financial resilience and stability of our Universities is paramount to ensure they can continue their critical functions including educating the next generation of leaders that will solve problems through research beyond the pandemic. New Zealand is not alone in this challenge with researchers and Universities in Australia noting the same issues (Peeters et al. 2020).

Effects on the health research workforce

Early and mid-career researchers

Early and mid-career researchers (EMCR) (<10 years post-PhD) are particularly vulnerable (see box below), and no more so than Māori and Pacific early career researchers, as they are already underrepresented in academic positions (Nissen et al. 2020). In 2017, there were only 75 Māori and Pasifika post-doctoral positions in New Zealand’s universities, compared with 575 non-Māori and non-Pasifika post-doctorates (Young et al. 2019). There are limited sources of funding for Postdoctoral Fellowships within New Zealand. For example, less than 20 New Zealand post-doctoral fellowships from government, charitable organisations and the University are available each year for early career (<5 years post-PhD) non-clinical cancer researchers based at the University of Otago Christchurch. Each of these fellowships are highly competitive and some are limited to Maori and Pacific researchers or specific to breast cancer research. A typical career path for New Zealand based PhD graduates involves seeking Postdoctoral positions overseas, gaining new experience and expertise prior to returning to New Zealand to establish a research career. However, this pathway has been disrupted, either because an overseas Postdoctoral position secured pre-COVID-19 has now been put on hold by the host organisation, or because international travel to the destination country is difficult to arrange, or the country where they planned to travel and reside is unsafe due to current levels of COVID-19 infections. This pool of young talent, of which the size is currently unknown, is now seeking research funding within New Zealand, but are competing with established researchers and researchers returning from overseas with longer track records and more substantial CVs. It is likely a number will be forced to leave science through an inability to secure funding and a lack of job opportunities in the sector. EMCRs are more likely to be fully reliant on research grants for their salary. In addition, their salaries are less likely to be picked up by their host institutions and they may be less competitive in an increasingly aggressive research funding environment. Whilst such systemic funding issues for research staff have been present for years, COVID-19 has exacerbated the effects and brought the stark reality of the risks of such short term funding strategies for our researchers into focus. Lost opportunities for PhD graduates to take up overseas Postdoctoral Fellowships, coupled with a reliance on grant funding for salary due to the lack of funded early/mid-career research positions in New Zealand, means the next generation of researchers may be lost before they even start, jeopardising the research workforce for years to come.

Effects on research funding

The Health Research Council (HRC), Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE), and Marsden, major research funders in New Zealand, committed early in the COVID-19 pandemic to research contract variations and extensions. However, most have indicated there will be no additional funding to support researchers affected by the delays. Internationally a minority of funders are providing extra salary support (Stoye 2020). A small number of funders have repurposed funds from future grant rounds to support extension of current research contracts or to support COVID-19 related research, and will have lasting impacts on the availability of funds for ongoing competitive grant rounds. The economic downturn and probable post-COVID-19 recession will have consequences for research, with a high likelihood that there will be less money available from Charitable organisations who fund research, lower returns on investments that are earmarked to fund research, tighter University budgets and potentially less commercial research. An economic downturn is likely to cause significant funding decreases that will persist for several years.

Opportunities arising from COVID-19

Conclusion

In response to the threat of COVID-19, NZ and other countries have shown the world the importance of disease prevention in a nation’s health and prosperity. No country can afford to take such extreme measures on a regular basis but are there lessons we can learn from this, ensuring we have a robust health research sector that can provide support to decision makers in times of a health crisis. A more robust career structure with adequate funding, particularly for early and mid-career researchers is required to ensure that New Zealand has a stable research work force to address the next health crisis. summarises the challenges and opportunities.

Figure 2. Effects of COVID-19 on early and mid-career researchers at UOC.

Figure 3. A, Challenges and B, opportunities due to COVID-19.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).