An academic says the idea that changes to a major research fund to favour Māori and Pasifika academics will dilute it is disgusting. The $315 million a year Performance Based Research Fund will now give mātauranga Māori research a funding weighting of 3. That's higher than the current rate of 2.5 which applies to the most expensive sciences, and double the rate of some other research. Universities New Zealand chief executive, Chris Whelan, says he wants a dedicated fund devoted to Maori and Pasifika research instead. Māni Dunlop spoke to post-doctoral fellow at University of Auckland Dr Tara McAllister who says that view was completely out of touch. She says structural change is needed in order to address the inequities Māori research faces.