NZ–UAE Antarctic Science Partnership to Drive Climate Innovation and High-Value Jobs

“The Antarctic Science Platform will run a targeted contestable process to identify New Zealand research teams to join the collaboration,” Dr Reti said.

 A new Antarctic science partnership between New Zealand and a leading university in the United Arab Emirates will strengthen New Zealand’s advanced engineering and climate modelling capability, supporting high-value jobs, economic growth, and smarter climate risk planning, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today.

The collaboration, formalised through a Memorandum of Arrangement between Khalifa University and Antarctica New Zealand, will focus on cutting-edge tools to better understand how Antarctic climate change is shaping weather systems, oceans, and coastal communities.

“This partnership is about building high-value capability in New Zealand and strengthening our economy for the future,” Dr Reti said.

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Engineering and Climate Science Working Together

By combining New Zealand’s Antarctic research expertise with the UAE’s strengths in advanced engineering and autonomous technologies, the partnership will develop new systems to improve prediction and monitoring of climate impacts originating in Antarctica.

“By combining our research expertise with the UAE’s strengths in engineering and autonomous technologies, we will develop new tools to better understand and predict how climate change in Antarctica affects our weather, oceans and coastal communities,” Dr Reti said.

The work will enhance New Zealand’s ability to manage long-term climate risk and support evidence-based decision-making for business and government.

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New Technologies with Commercial and Industrial Impact

The partnership is expected to generate innovations with applications far beyond Antarctica, including:

• High-resolution climate and sea-ice modelling

• Long-range autonomous underwater vehicles

• Environmental monitoring systems

• Marine and ocean-based industries

• Aerospace and advanced robotics

“The systems developed… will have applications across marine industries, environmental monitoring and aerospace,” Dr Reti said.

“That means new commercial opportunities, high-value jobs, and stronger national capability in the technologies that will power our future economy.”

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Supporting Productivity and Resilience Across Key Sectors

Dr Reti said strengthening New Zealand’s autonomous systems and engineering expertise will boost productivity and resilience across multiple industries.

“The collaboration supports our Antarctic research goals while strengthening New Zealand’s advanced engineering and autonomous systems capability – technologies that can boost productivity and resilience across key industries,” he said.

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Focus on Sea-Ice Forecasting and Ice Shelf Melt

The partnership will initially support two flagship projects under the Antarctic Science Platform, targeting some of the most urgent scientific challenges in the Southern Ocean:

• Improving sea-ice forecasting

• Deploying advanced autonomous systems to better understand ice shelf melt and ocean circulation

These insights will improve New Zealand’s ability to anticipate climate-driven changes affecting the region and the wider Pacific.

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$1 Million Investment and Contestable Research Process

New Zealand will invest $1 million into the initial projects, with research teams selected through a targeted contestable process run by the Antarctic Science Platform.

Proposals will be assessed based on:

• Scientific excellence

• Long-term capability building

• Mutual benefit for both countries

“The Antarctic Science Platform will run a targeted contestable process to identify New Zealand research teams to join the collaboration,” Dr Reti said.

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Building Future Capability Through International Collaboration

The partnership reflects New Zealand’s commitment to world-leading Antarctic research and highlights the growing importance of international cooperation in tackling climate change and developing the next generation of advanced technologies.

“It will also provide better insight into Antarctic climate change to help businesses and decision-makers plan for the future,” Dr Reti said.