Examining the efforts of the Biological Heritage National Science Challenge Ngā Koiora Tuku Iho to improve equity and diversity in the research system

Aotearoa-New Zealand's research community has been shifting towards more societally-engaged and responsible approaches to better address complex socio-ecological challenges like biodiversity loss. Such approaches to research benefit from workforces diverse in career stage, disciplinary background, age, gender, ethnicity and worldview. Yet exclusionary practices and processes, including disciplinary and epistemic hierarchies which devalue the 'soft' sciences and Indigenous knowledges, continue to undermine transformative system change. While these systemic inequities are well documented, less attention has been given to examining efforts that address such inequities. Over a ten-year period, New Zealand's Biological Heritage National Science Challenge (BioHeritage) made a conscious effort to support the flourishing of diverse ways of doing, knowing and being in the research system. In this paper, we use reporting data, and an online survey conducted in 2021, to assess the initial outcomes of this approach. We find that BioHeritage's conscious efforts to support early career, female, and Māori leadership, disciplinary diversity, and mātauranga Māori have meaningfully impacted the diversity and inclusiveness of BioHeritage's workforce. We also reiterate the importance of engaging carefully and reflexively with systemic challenges in ongoing efforts to foster diverse and inclusive research spaces.