Te Papa slammed by 30 international experts over restructure making scientists redundant

Wednesday, 27 February 2019

Mollusc scientist Bruce Marshall was one of two internationally renowned experts made redundant in Te Papa's controversial restructure.

Thirty international experts have petitioned Te Papa against its 'unwise' restructure, which they say will cause 'unavoidable decline' in its world-class fish collection.

Fish experts from the world's top science organisations - from London's Natural History Museum to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation - have written to Te Papa opposing the museum's controversial restructure.

Many had worked with axed fish collection manager Andrew Stewart, who was 'the kind of employee any organisation would do its best to keep in its fold'.

Stewart and mollusc expert Bruce Marshall - who have more than 80 years combined experience - have been made provisionally redundant, but are awaiting a final decision. The shakeup replaces five collection managers with two collection managers, two assistant curators and one technician.

* Scientists' association deplores Te Papa's axing of two experts

* Axed Te Papa scientists granted temporary stay of execution

* World-leading science experts made redundant in Te Papa restructure**

Global fish experts say axed scientist Andrew Stewart is 'the kind of employee any organisation would do its best to keep in its fold'.

The global fish experts said having just five full-time posts to take care of all the natural history collections 'is not rooted in reality'.

'What this means is unavoidable decline in curation standard, tremendous pressure on staff that will likely result in early burnout and, consequently, relatively high staff turnover.'

Axed Te Papa molluscs expert Bruce Marshall has been collecting, naming and looking after snail specimens since 1967.

The petition adds to a chorus of opposition from New Zealand and global scientists, who argue the restructure jeopardises collections care and nationally significant, irreplaceable expertise.

In a letter of response, Te Papa chief executive Geraint Martin and chairman Evan Williams said the new structure had 5.5 full-time positions 'dedicated to fish', compared with five jobs under the old structure. With that staff level, the fish collection had been maintained at a world class level, and had been fully databased. However, 3.5 of those roles are funded by other organisations, such as Niwa.

The amount of Te Papa staff time allocated to the fish collection remains at two full-time-equivalents before and after the restructure. However, Stewart's full-time dedicated role will instead be split between three people with generic titles rather than specific fish expertise.

Many critics have emphasised the importance of Stewart's and Marshall's experience in taxonomy - identifying, describing and naming New Zealand's flora and fauna, which underpins everything from identifying biosecurity pests to understanding relationships between different organisms. A Royal Society review in 2015 found New Zealand had a critical shortage of experienced taxonomists.

Martin said the new structure would help create a pathway for young scientists to progress, ensuring succession. However, the Royal Society report also said experienced taxonomists were an endangered species, and expertise took 10-15 years to build up.

The fish experts said Stewart was 'a born taxonomist' and 'walking encyclopaedia on the fishes of New Zealand' and there was no better person to train a successor.

Martin said retired fish curator Dr Clive Roberts would now stay on half time as a research fellow, providing 'ideal academic mentoring and succession'. Roberts will be paid by Niwa, not Te Papa.