The Performance-based Research Fund,gender and a cultural cringe

This article explores ways the Performance-based Research Fund (PBRF) produces gendered results and expresses a cultural cringe. It is argued that the research evaluation is fixated with being ‘world-class’ at the expense of academic practice that focuses on New Zealand. In this context, disadvantage faced by female academics under the PBRF can be re-imagined as an exemplar of a broader experience faced by all New Zealand-trained and focused academics. At the same time, the PBRF has produced some embarrassing results for neoliberal policy-makers and somewhat empowers academics as arbiters of excellence by reifying elements of peer review.