In an ever-tightening research funding market, University of Otago researchers have been able to substantially increase the number of grants won over the past year and the overall level of external funding received.
At the end of May, the university had 732 active research grant accounts, a 22.4% increase on the same date last year, the university council was told last week.
New accounts were opened every time a grant was received.
Overall external funding for research projects had increased by 11.5% over the same period.
External research funding received during the first five months of this year was $33 million - $3.62 million higher than had been budgeted.
The full-year budget is $72.7 million.
Research deputy vice-chancellor Prof Geoff White described this year's results to date as "gratifying".
With caps on the budgets of the major funding agencies such as the Health Funding Council and the Marsden Fund, staff were working hard to improve their success rate by submitting higher-quality applications, and were also approaching many other smaller funding sources, he said yesterday.
The result was more grants being won, although the value of each grant was sometimes smaller than it had been in the past.
The increase in the level of overall funding was also a "clear signal" staff were even more active in research than before.
Two years ago, Otago was ranked the country's top tertiary institution for performance-based research funding, beating 30 other institutions.
"It is gratifying University of Otago staff have increased their research effort because it means that the university will retain its position in New Zealand as. . . the nation's most research-intensive university," Prof White said.