12 October 2016 at 9:00 am
Major offshore donation to University of Auckland
In a move that highlights international recognition of New Zealand research quality, the New York-based Aotearoa Foundation has made a pledge of $6.8 million to the University of Auckland’s $300m fundraising campaign for research, For All Our Futures.
The Aotearoa Foundation is a private foundation founded by well-known philanthropist Julian Robertson and his late wife Josie, and seeks to make high-impact grants in New Zealand for education, conservation and environmental stewardship, and medical research. In the 1970s, Robertson and his family spent a year living in New Zealand.
The Aotearoa Foundation donation is set to create new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for healthcare, new opportunities in New Zealand’s medical technology sector, and support leading researchers at the university’s Auckland Bioengineering Institute (ABI) and Centre for Brain Research (CBR).
The Director of the CBR, Professor Richard Faull, says the donation will be “a vital catalyst” for the CBR’s work in brain research, and hopes it will bring more international attention to the campaign.
For All Our Futures is the largest fundraising campaign in New Zealand history, aiming to raise $300m on research projects that address critical challenges facing our communities.
The ambitious project comes on the back of the university ranking highest of all New Zealand universities in the latest QS World University Rankings and Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
