Success for NZ-based anthropologists in the 2016 Marsden Fund

Four New Zealand-based anthropologists have had success in the 2016 Marsden Fund awards. Our congratulations go to:

Professor Thegn Ladefoged from Anthropology at the University of Auckland, who received a Marsden grant of $705,000 for his project The making of Māori society: An archaeological analysis of social networks and geo-political interaction.

Associate Professor Jeff Sissons from Cultural Anthropology at Victoria University of Wellington, who received a Marsden grant of $390,000 for his project The mysterious disappearance of tūāhu.

Dr Phyllis Herda from Anthropology at the University of Auckland, who received a Marsden grant of $530,000 for the project Ancient Futures: Late 18th and early 19th century Tongan arts and their legacies.

Dr Lorena Gibson from Cultural Anthropology at Victoria University of Wellington, who received a Marsden Fast Start grant of $300,000 for her project East Side Orchestras: Music, poverty, and social change.

The Marsden Fund was established by the government in 1994 to fund excellent fundamental research. It is a contestable fund administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand on behalf of the Marsden Fund Council.

Marsden Fund research benefits society as a whole by contributing to the development of researchers with knowledge, skills and ideas. The Fund supports research excellence in science, engineering and maths, social sciences and the humanities. Competition for grants is intense. Marsden is regarded as the hallmark of excellence for research in New Zealand.