2019 Endeavour Fund successful proposals
We received 414 applications for research funding from the 2019 Endeavour Fund, with 71 approved for funding.
On this page
The successful proposals for the 2019 Endeavour Fund were selected by the Science Board, an independent statutory Board, following review by independent experts from New Zealand and overseas.
The new contracts started on 1 October 2019.
Read the Minister’s announcement on the Beehive website(external link)
Download the full list of Endeavour Round 2019 successful projects [PDF, 548 KB]
Successful 2019 Smart Ideas
The successful Smart Ideas for 2019 are listed below.
Download the full list of Endeavour Round 2019 successful projects [PDF, 548 KB]
| Organisation | Title | Duration (years) | Contract Value (GST excl) |
| AgResearch Limited | High-value New Zealand pigs for transplantable biomaterials | 3 | $1,000,000 |
| Novel discriminatory tests for E. coli to improve water quality assessments | 3 | $999,999 | |
| Auckland University of Technology | A new measurement principle for accurate non-invasive blood pressure | 3 | $1,000,000 |
| Blue Carbon Services | Carbon Sequestration and Mussel Productivity in Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture | 3 | $1,000,000 |
| Cawthron Institute | Natural compound manipulation for therapeutic applications | 3 | $1,000,000 |
| GNS Science | Nano-catalytic surfaces for efficient, stable fuel cells and eco-friendly hydrogen production | 3 | $999,987 |
| Lincoln University | Multifunctional nano-coatings for sustainable agriculture applications | 3 | $999,909 |
| Massey University | Monoamine oxidase inhibitors from tobacco smoke: from Nicotine Replacement Therapy to Tobacco Replacement Therapy | 3 | $999,999 |
| Meteorological Service of New Zealand Limited | Machine learning for advanced coastal storm surge predictions | 2 | $1,000,000 |
| National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Limited | Novel high-tech underwater selection tools for environmentally and economically sustainable fishing | 2 | $1,000,000 |
| Better sea ice predictions for shipping via wave-ice forecasting | 3 | $1,000,000 | |
| Broadband acoustic characterisation of free gases in the ocean water | 3 | $1,000,000 | |
| Numerical simulations to identify river width that minimises flood-risk on alluvial fans | 2 | $1,000,000 | |
| Scion | Harnessing photoheterotrophic metabolism to convert methane into biopolymers | 3 | $999,999 |
| A living “factory” for the production of high-value terpenes | 3 | $999,999 | |
| The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited | Targeting Specialty: Taxonomically restricted genetics for faster selection | 3 | $999,999 |
| Understanding spore/host recognition to prevent plant infection from ascomycete fungal pathogens | 3 | $1,000,000 | |
| Cellular agriculture of fish: premium seafood from immortalised cell lines. | 3 | $1,000,000 | |
| Sex pheromones of social wasps: From discovery to population disruption | 3 | $999,999 | |
| Using plant-microbe interactions to manipulate dormancy for increased post-harvest value | 3 | $1,000,000 | |
| Unitec Institute of Technology | Assessing Reidentification Risks with Bayesian Probabilistic Programming | 3 | $998,504 |
| University of Auckland | Personalised medicine for movement disorders | 2 | $999,948 |
| Realising Children and Young People's Participatory Rights in Child Protection Services | 3 | $982,854 | |
| Engineering microbial enzymes for plastic recycling and environmental remediation. | 3 | $997,191 | |
| Augmented Nutrition | 3 | $1,000,000 | |
| Novel boron carriers for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy, a non-invasive cancer treatment | 3 | $999,000 | |
| Testing a post-normal approach to consensual technological evaluation and adoption | 2 | $978,782 | |
| Making New Zealand homes quieter, a sound investment | 3 | $991,095 | |
| Drinking-Water Pathogen Monitoring in Real-Time | 3 | $999,999 | |
| University of Canterbury | Development of a multi-axis spin-coating system to coat curved surfaces | 3 | $1,000,000 |
| Integrated biomass gasification with chemical looping and oxygen uncoupling for H2 production and CO2 capture | 3 | $999,999 | |
| University of Otago | Diagnosis by light: An endoscopic probe for biopsy-free diagnosis of gastrointestinal diseases | 3 | $999,999 |
| Cultivating resilient marine forests to rebuild productive coastal ecosystems | 3 | $1,000,000 | |
| Enabling possum fertility control and eradication | 3 | $999,970 | |
| Modelling the cracks, chills and feedbacks that will control Auckland's next eruption | 3 | $1,000,000 | |
| Generating non-heading ryegrass | 3 | $1,000,000 | |
| Computational platform for phylogenetic analysis of somatic evolution | 3 | $1,000,000 | |
| Phage-inspired custom antimicrobials to target bacterial pathogens | 3 | $1,000,000 | |
| Quantifying environmental resources through high-resolution, automated, satellite mapping of landscape change | 3 | $1,000,000 | |
| Contact-free sensing of high voltages using a laser electrometer | 3 | $1,000,000 | |
| University of Waikato | Evaluating earthquake risk using liquefied volcanic-ash layers in lakes | 3 | $1,000,000 |
| User-friendly deep learning | 3 | $1,000,000 | |
| A new method for measurements of muddy suspended sediments in aquatic environments | 3 | $1,000,000 | |
| Victoria University of Wellington | Developing a synthetic biological platform to access the chemical diversity of New Zealand microbial communities | 3 | $1,000,000 |
| Rational design and synthesis of novel pharmacological chaperones to treat Krabbe disease | 3 | $1,000,000 | |
| Measuring income inequality, poverty and mobility in New Zealand | 3 | $999,459 | |
| Next-generation technologies for pest control: gene silencing for invasive wasp control | 3 | $999,999 | |
| Non-toxic hybrid nanomaterials for luminescent solar concentrators | 3 | $999,999 | |
| Weather Radar New Zealand Limited | A New Approach to Weather Radar Observations for Real-time Natural Hazard Warnings | 3 | $999,999 |
Successful 2019 Research Programmes
The successful Research Programmes for 2019 are listed below.
Download the full list of Endeavour Round 2019 successful projects [PDF, 548 KB]
| Organisation | Title | Duration (years) | Contract Value (GST excl) |
| AgResearch Limited | Rapidly evolving climate-smart dairy cattle | 5 | $10,000,000 |
| Beyond the genome: Exploiting methylomes to accelerate adaptation to a changing environment | 5 | $5,412,915 | |
| Auckland University of Technology | The expression, experience and transcendence of low-skill in Aotearoa New Zealand | 5 | $4,350,807 |
| Advanced, novel biopotential sensor platform for New Zealand health-tech companies | 5 | $7,946,676 | |
| Cawthron Institute | A toolbox to underpin and enable tomorrow's marine biosecurity system | 5 | $10,433,370 |
| GNS Science | *Geothermal: The next generation | 5 | $10,689,200 |
| Landcare Research New Zealand Limited | Eradication Science: eliminating the last survivors to achieve predator freedom | 5 | $7,500,000 |
| Lincoln Agritech Limited | Subsurface processes in braided rivers – hyporheic exchange and leakage to groundwater | 5 | $7,970,670 |
| National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Limited | *Halving rural and Māori community wastewater treatment costs: Mainstreaming novel ecocultural technologies | 5 | $10,000,000 |
| Scion | Forest flows – creating water-resilient landscapes | 5 | $13,736,775 |
| The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited | *Re-imagining aquaculture: inventing low-impact, offshore mobile technology that transforms finfish production | 5 | $18,750,000 |
| Unitec Institute of Technology | *Marae Ora, Kāinga Ora: Marae-led housing interventions that develop kāinga. | 3 | $3,527,403 |
| University of Auckland | Our generation, our voices, all our futures | 5 | $5,216,585 |
| Transitioning Taranaki to a Volcanic Future | 5 | $13,676,785 | |
| University of Canterbury | *3-D printed porous media for process engineering | 5 | $9,812,550 |
| University of Otago | *New Frontiers in Antiviral Development | 5 | $13,525,451 |
| *Precision Antimicrobials: Targeted Therapeutics for Food and Companion Animal Infections | 5 | $8,709,022 | |
| Whakapapakainga: Low Carbon and High Cultural Connectedness Futures for Community Cross-generational Benefit | 5 | $7,248,016 | |
| University of Waikato | Turning the tide on prison violence | 5 | $3,916,045 |
| Victoria University of Wellington | Informatics for Social Services and Wellbeing Data New Zealand | 3 | $2,658,600 |
| Extreme events and the emergence of climate change | 5 | $10,273,285 | |
| *Zero-CO2 production of essential technological metals | 5 | $6,494,327 |
2019 success rates by organisation
The table below details the 2019 Endeavour Fund success rates by organisation.
Download the full list of Endeavour Round 2019 successful projects [PDF, 548 KB]
| Organisation | Number Applied | Number Successful | Success Rate(%) |
| AgResearch | 22 | 4 | 18.2 |
| Ake Innovation Limited | 1 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Aqualinc Research Limited | 3 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Auckland University of Technology | 19 | 3 | 15.8 |
| Biopolymer Network Limited | 1 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Blue Carbon Services | 1 | 1 | 100.0 |
| Bodeker Scientific Limited | 1 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Cawthron Institute | 5 | 2 | 40.0 |
| CRL Energy Limited | 4 | 0 | 0.0 |
| DairyNZ Limited | 1 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Dr Nicholas Gaddum | 1 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Ecometrics Limited | 1 | 0 | 0.0 |
| GNS Science | 13 | 2 | 15.4 |
| Institute of Environmental Science and Research Limited | 2 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Kentron Limited | 1 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Landcare | 8 | 1 | 12.5 |
| Lincoln AgriTech Limited | 7 | 1 | 14.3 |
| Lincoln University | 5 | 1 | 20.0 |
| Mackie Research & Consulting Limited | 1 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Massey University | 18 | 1 | 5.6 |
| Meteorological Service of New Zealand Limited | 1 | 1 | 100.0 |
| National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Limited | 28 | 5 | 17.9 |
| Parresia Research Limited | 1 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Remedius Biotech Limited | 2 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Scion | 23 | 3 | 13.0 |
| Sustainable Energy Advice Limited | 1 | 0 | 0.0 |
| The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited | 20 | 6 | 30.0 |
| Unitec Institute of Technology | 5 | 2 | 40.0 |
| University of Auckland | 78 | 10 | 12.8 |
| University of Canterbury | 36 | 3 | 8.3 |
| University of Otago | 37 | 12 | 32.4 |
| University of Waikato | 30 | 4 | 13.3 |
| VetSouth Limited | 1 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Victoria University of Wellington | 32 | 8 | 25.0 |
| Weather Radar New Zealand Limited | 1 | 1 | 100.0 |
| WSP Opus | 2 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Xerra Earth Observation Institute Limited | 1 | 0 | 0.0 |