Keywords: Globalisation & Trade; Growth & Innovation;

In September 2003, the Royal Society of New Zealand announced their ‘Marsden Fund’ support for some 105 new research projects costing a total of $43.8m over three years from 2004 to 2006. The Marsden Fund is a government scheme, administered by the Royal Society to ensure independence, which aimes to promote original scholarly focussed research with long term outcomes.

One of the awards went to Brian Easton for a research proposal on globalisation. A part of the research proposal is to establish a virtual New Zealand Centre for Globalisation Studies. Its purpose will be to bring together New Zealand scholars working on globalisation in all its various facets, to enable interested overseas scholars to connect with the New Zealand work, as well as to enable others to access the research.

The website will include
– a list of the scholars (with contacts);
– links to relevant sites (including the personal sites of the scholars);-
– research papers (Brian Easton’s index of papers on globalisation)>;
– announcements and events;
– forums.

While as the ‘director’ of the Centre, Brian has his own program, which may or may not influence other people’s work, the Centre has no specific ideology or approach, other than a focus on analysis rather than rhetoric. Scholars are likely to cover a wide range of disciplines including demography; economics; education; international relations; labour studies; political studies; public health; and sociology, and be based in universities and research institutes as well as including independent scholars.

The Centre will be set up in early 2004. Following discussion with, and the involvement of, other scholars The web address www.nzglobalisation.ac.nz has been reserved for the site.