Landcare Research - Manaaki Whenua

Landcare-Research -Manaaki Whenua

Strategic initiatives for 2009/10

Kristin Flanagan and Kathryn Fitzharding–Jones with the "Green Advantage", a joint promotion between Enviro–Mark and PrintNZ

Kristin Flanagan and Kathryn Fitzharding–Jones with the "Green Advantage", a joint promotion between Enviro–Mark and PrintNZ

Financial performance

We said we would:
  • Generate greater financial flexibility and capacity to reinvest from increased revenue and productivity, with a target return on equity (ROE) of 6.4%
How we performed:
  • We achieved our 6.4% ROE target excluding the impact of 0% building depreciation announced in the Government’s May 2010 Budget, and have identified opportunities for reinvestment in science

Customer focus

We said we would:
  • Align science activity with Government priorities and emerging end–user needs
    • Deepen and extend relationships to grow research revenues and deliver national outcomes (see Integrative Solutions)
    • How we performed:
  • In an independent survey, 91% of our clients rated our overall performance as ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’ (2009: 70%, although the two customer groups were quite different); 95% rated the quality of our research work as either ‘excellent’ or ‘very good’ (2009, 85%)
  • $10.5m (17% of our revenue) contracted from government departments, local government and the Animal Health Board; private sector clients contracted $5.6m (9% of our revenue) in research services
  • We held 6–monthly CEO and senior management team meetings with each of our major clients in government to foster alignment in our work
  • We produced 185 contract reports for clients
  • Our staff were invited to participate in 188 technical meetings and workshops, and made 220 technical presentations to clients and stakeholders
  • 60 client staff were on our advisory groups, and 41 of our staff held 66 positions on stakeholder advisory groups
  • We worked on 158 collaborative research projects with end–users and stakeholders
  • Across 8 of our sites, 107 client and stakeholder staff are co–located with us
  • Staff were seconded part–time to AHB and Environment Canterbury

Integrative solutions

We said we would:
  • Develop integrated solutions to the dilemmas posed by sustainable development by integrating our capabilities with those of other science providers and with our customers’ expertise
How we performed:
  • We worked with DOC to develop a national framework for measuring and monitoring biodiversity, and a Vital Sites model for prioritising conservation management
  • We worked on three biodiversity indicator projects funded from the Cross Departmental Research Pool and managed by DOC
  • We worked with MAF BNZ and multiple stakeholders to develop an outcome–focused performance monitoring framework for more effective pest management
  • We worked with a consortium of MAF BNZ, DOC and several northern regional councils on kauri ´dieback´, caused by an unknown Phytophthora; we co–hosted the Fifth IUFRO meeting on Phytophthora diseases for New Zealand and overseas researchers and regulators
  • We established a research consortium between Ireland, Belgium and New Zealand to develop land– use management planning tools under the European Commission’s Framework Plan 7
  • We joined the new collaborative NZ Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre involving 5 CRIs, 2 universities, DairyNZ, and the Pastoral Greenhouse Gas Research Consortium; we are partners in 4 other collaborative research centres and 6 other formal collaborative research networks and consortia
  • All our major sites are located on or close by university campuses to facilitate collaboration; 18 of our staff worked in 21 university–led research programmes spanning 5 universities; 14 of our staff were contracted to deliver lectures; another 22 staff delivered 28 sets of lectures (gratis); 28 staff hold 41 positions with New Zealand and overseas universities
  • 60% of our Capability Funds were invested in cross– team projects developing transdisciplinary outcomes and integrated solutions

Environmental technologies

We said we would:
  • Create financial value from environmental technologies by developing products and services that meet both New Zealand and global needs
How we performed:
  • We worked with 6 export manufacturing firms with support from MfE, MED, BusinessNZ and NZTE to show eco–innovation in product life–cycle management reduces production costs and creates market advantage
  • A prototype filter reduced methane emissions from a dairy effluent pond by 60% and is now being adapted for landfill emissions
  • The carboNZeroCertTM programme (CEMARS) was endorsed by the UK Government, was licensed to Bureau Veritas for the Australian market, and won numerous accolades
  • We secured the global rights and ownership of the Enviro–Mark®programme
  • We have 8 prototype environmental technologies and services under development, 12 in developmental stages, and another 7 undergoing commercial testing

Science foresight and acceaaibility

We said we would:
  • Enhance the relevance, uptake and value of our science through applying foresight and advanced information technology
How we performed:
  • We launched the Land Resource Informations Systems (LRIS) portal enabling users to download land–use and soils data more easily
  • We developed pilot interactive web portals for Our Futures and Visualising Māori Futures
  • We contributed by videoconference to a European Commission Foresight 2030 exercise on Informatics in Natural Resource Governance
  • We are part of the Broadband–enabled Science and Technology Grid (BeSTGRID) funded by MoRST to develop New Zealand’s eResearch infrastructure
  • We were elected to lead the Pacific Australasian node of the new digital Global Soil Map project
  • We contributed to several national and international biodiversity informatics initiatives
  • We developed decision support systems and frameworks for improved future management of biodiversity, pests, water governance and stormwater

Our people and processes

We said we would:
  • Attract and retain high quality staff and provide a flexible, modern work environment with best practice in organisational sustainability and smart working solutions
How we performed:
  • The quality of our staff is evidenced by publication of 271 peer–reviewed research papers, 9 books, 90 book chapters, 6 books edited or co–edited, 169 conference papers or abstracts, and well over 200 non–refereed journal articles and popular publications
  • We co–authored papers with authors from 34 countries other than New Zealand
  • Turnover for science teams was 7.8% with zero turnover among our most senior scientists
  • We completed an internal project on ´science futures´ to identify science capabilities needed for the next decade
  • Direct expenditure on training courses and study grants was $613,000 (2.35% of payroll costs). In addition, $302,000 of Capability Funds were invested in fellowships and postgraduate study
  • The second cohort of staff embarked on the year–long in–house leadership development programme; we launched a similar programme for line managers
  • We hosted 17 postdoctoral researchers, and supervised 74 PhD and 24 Masters students
  • Our new Invertebrate Containment Facility is designed to be both water– and energy–efficient and provide more flexibility and reliability for research on biocontrol of weeds
  • External audits confirmed our carbon–neutrality in accordance with protocols and processes required by the carboNZero programme, and retention of our ISO 14001 certification and our Tertiary Level status under ACC’s Workplace Safety Management Practice
  • We introduced InfoCentre and InfoFile software systems to rationalise and simplify reporting of science achievements and contracts