Nats question colourful funding

KELLY HODEL/Waikato Times

VALUABLE? The National Party has questioned the merit of some doctorate research topics to receive government funding, including Carey-Ann Morrison's project on home-making experiences of young couples.

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More than $4 million of government money has been allocated to fund "mind-boggling" doctorate research topics such as the value of children's drawings.

Nearly $100,000 was granted to Otago University psychology postgraduate student Emily Crawford's three-year study examining children's colour use and emotional wellbeing when drawing.

It is one of 42 top-achiever doctoral scholarship subjects awarded funds by the Tertiary Education Commission - several of which have had their merits questioned.

Others include $98,000 for an Auckland University study of the poetics of space in the writings of novelist Eve Langley, and $96,000 to Waikato University geography postgraduate Carey-Ann Morrison to research the home-making experiences of young couples.

Ms Morrison's project will examine young heterosexual couples' experiences of home, and in particular explore young women's experiences and perceptions of love and romance.

She said she planned to use the money to pay for living costs, help pay for her attendance at conferences in New Zealand and in Las Vegas, and buy equipment for photographing and filming interviews with couples.

National Party tertiary education spokesman Paul Hutchison said he found some of the subjects awarded funds mind-boggling.

The benefits of such topics needed to be considered before they were allocated taxpayer money, he said.

Last year Waikato University postgraduate student Dave Snell's research came under similar scrutiny. He is now a third of the way through research, backed by $96,165 from the fund, investigating the lifestyles of the stereotypical heavy-metal loving, black T-shirted bogan community.

Ms Morrison, 24, said criticism of her thesis was unsurprising, and she had spoken to Mr Snell about a backlash.

She defended her work, saying mundane activities needed to be examined "to make it more of an inclusive society".

Ms Crawford said her research would provide more effective assessment techniques for clinical psychologists.

Tertiary Education Minister Pete Hodgson said that, while some research contributed to technological innovation, other projects helped the understanding of social, economic and environmental problems.

- © Fairfax NZ News