Inā kei te mohio koe ko wai koe, I anga mai koe i hea, kei te mohio koe. Kei te anga atu ki hea.
If you know who you are and where you are from, then you will know where you are going.
We are pleased to present ESR’s 2024–2025 Annual Report. This whakatauki conveys what has been a year of resetting, refocussing and embracing new opportunities for ESR.
Change to the science sector had been well signalled as we entered the 2024/25 year. In January 2025, the Government announced that, as part of a wider reform of the science system, ESR would transition into a Public Research Organisation (PRO). And so on 30 June 2025 we farewelled the Institute of Environmental Science and Research, or ESR, after 33 years, and from 1 July became the New Zealand Institute for Public Health and Forensic Science – PHF Science for short.
In farewelling ESR as an organisation, we want to acknowledge the impact, importance and innovative nature of the of the science we have delivered, not only in the last year but over the course of decades. These deep roots allow us to stay grounded in our key purpose of delivering impactful science for New Zealand, even as we pursue our PRO journey as PHF Science.