Co-Directors’ Report - Annual Report 2022

13 April, 2023

When the MacDiarmid Institute turned 20 years old in 2022, we took the opportunity to celebrate what the Institute has achieved so far, and to look forward to the next 20 years.

This annual report shares our stories and achievements from 2022 and puts them in the context of our 20-year journey so far.

In his first MacDiarmid Interface piece – included in this report – Sir Paul Callaghan outlined his vision for a national scale centre; a centre with a commitment to partnership within New Zealand’s research sector, and one with the ambition to change New Zealand’s social and economic culture.

The weight of Sir Paul’s ideas is measured by the profound impact they’ve had over the past two decades. Few of us today will have read those words in 2002, but that we are living them is what really matters.

Take economic culture change: the research entrepreneurialism that Sir Paul envisaged is now completely part of our DNA, and you will find plenty of evidence of that in this report.

Sir Paul understood that there was much work to do when it came to meeting the aspirations of Māori through science. Structural change internally and strong long-term partnerships mean that that work is now flourishing in the Institute more than ever before.

Public engagement has always been a strength of the MacDiarmid Institute. Today, through partnership and empowering our people, the reach and depth of our engagement is having the positive influence that Sir Paul imagined.

Sir Paul spoke in 2002 about the buzz of new faces arriving, and new ideas to explore. The research profiles in this report illustrates that today’s MacDiarmid Institute still has that sense of renewal in abundance.

Nicola Gaston and Justin Hodgkiss
Co-Directors

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