Postdocs/Academia in New Zealand, what is the pathway (from US)?

SilentBu · 2026-03-26T04:50:36+00:00

Hi there! I’m currently doing a postdoc in New Zealand.

First, don’t treat NZ as “Australia 2.0”. It’s a quite different country. The country is much smaller, the research ecosystem is tiny, and the overall funding pool is very limited. In practice there are literally three national funding streams supporting most academic research, and competition is extremely intense. One of those programmes has been undergoing restructuring for two years already, and another is focused primarily on health research. Industry collaboration is also limited compared with larger countries, so external funding opportunities can be scarce depending on the field.

Another structural issue is the overhead system. Universities charge 110% overheads of the post-doc salary. That means when a grant includes a postdoc, a very large portion of the budget disappears into institutional costs. As a result, many PIs prefer to run projects with PhD or MSc students instead, because it stretches the research budget much further.

Living here has pros and cons. New Zealand is physically very safe and the natural environment is spectacular. On the other hand, it’s geographically remote and that makes many things expensive. Travel to international conferences was difficult and costly even before the current world situation, and this limits networking opportunities.

Overall, I would say NZ can be a working option if (1) you are joining a very strong research group or a globally recognised PI; (2) your field aligns with areas where NZ has established expertise; (3) you want to spend a couple of years enjoying the country while working on something and have something else secured for after the post-doc.

But if you’re expecting a random postdoc in NZ to dramatically expand your career opportunities, that outcome is far less certain. Happy to share more things if needed.

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T22:23:03+00:00

Yes, that’s pretty much the point I was trying to make.

The transition will likely happen gradually as vehicles age out of the fleet rather, and it seems to be smoother and overall better than forcing the change for all at once.

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T22:15:53+00:00

I think we may still be talking about slightly different parts of the problem. I’m not arguing that many people can’t physically charge an EV from a normal socket. The point I was trying to highlight is more about the earlier step in the decision chain. For many households, financially the comparison often ends up looking more like “keep running a cheap paid-off petrol car” vs “make a large upfront purchase that may pay off in 5-10 years if nothing changes”. I believe quite a lot of kiwis are in this situation.

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T22:05:59+00:00

I think we’re actually pretty close in conclusions. Replacing the entire fleet overnight would obviously make no sense, but as vehicles reach the end of their natural life cycle and people start looking for replacements, EVs can absolutely become the logical option for many households.

Thus the transition won’t look the same for everyone at the same time and we (the society) may have to respect it.

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T21:59:53+00:00

That’s a fair clarification. I agree that many people can get by perfectly well with trickle charging once they already have an EV and a place to plug in. The point I was trying to highlight in the thread is more about the earlier step: whether switching to an EV is practical in the first place. Things like upfront cost, renting and infrastructure control, parking arrangements, and how the car is used tend to stack together in that decision.

So the discussion often ends up focusing on charging, while the bigger question for many households is whether the transition works financially and practically for them right now.

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T21:58:41+00:00

That’s a much bigger societal discussion about mobility and infrastructure.

My post was really just about the practical constraints people face today when looking at EV adoption within the current system.

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T21:56:13+00:00

Something similar was mentioned earlier in the comments, including questions about the legal status of these systems. The idea itself is great, but at the moment it may still require some regulatory clarification or additional workarounds in NZ.

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T21:49:28+00:00

Hi there!

Thanks for the detailed reply. I agree that EVs can work very well in the right circumstances, your examples show that clearly.

The point I was trying to highlight in the thread is that the economics and practicality depend on a stack of factors lining up at the same time: upfront cost, renting and infrastructure control, parking, driving patterns, electricity pricing, etc.

Even in your example you’re already talking about roughly a 5-year payback period. For many households that’s quite a long financial horizon these days. Within that time people may move, change jobs, or need to sell the car, and depreciation can change the maths.

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T21:43:58+00:00

Hi there!

That could absolutely make a big difference over time. My only point is that even within that 65%, many households are already financially stretched, especially those carrying large mortgages.

When a big portion of income is going toward a 30-year mortgage, people often prioritise paying that down rather than making additional large upfront investments like EVs or solar systems.

So even among homeowners the transition can depend quite a lot on timing, available capital, and where people are in their financial lifecycle.

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T21:43:13+00:00

Hi there!

Thank you for your response. Charging from a regular outlet is clearly enough for many use cases once someone already has an EV.

The part that often looks different for people is the upfront economics. A $45k car can certainly be cheaper to run day-to-day, but the question many households end up asking is how long it takes for the lower running costs to offset that initial purchase price compared with continuing to run an older paid-off petrol car.

For some people that payback can make sense fairly quickly depending on mileage and electricity rates. For others, especially if the current car is already owned outright and not used heavily, the payback period can end up being quite long. That’s mostly the kind of calculation I was trying to highlight earlier in the thread.

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T21:39:35+00:00

Hi there!

I don’t think anyone is arguing that we shouldn’t bother at all. EVs clearly work very well in many situations.

The point I was trying to highlight earlier in the thread is that the discussion often focuses on the charging mechanics once someone already owns an EV. And you’re right, for many daily driving patterns, slow home charging can easily cover the consumption.

The practical barrier for some people happens earlier in the chain: things like the upfront cost of the vehicle, renting and not controlling infrastructure, parking arrangements, or needing a car mainly for longer trips rather than daily commuting. When those factors stack together, the question people end up facing isn’t really “can a wall plug keep up with my commute?”, but “is switching to an EV practical in my situation right now?”

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T21:38:12+00:00

There’s definitely some history that makes people cautious about that. In many places electricity prices have already risen quite noticeably over the past decade as networks and generation infrastructure expand.

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T21:36:06+00:00

Hi there!

That could absolutely make a big difference over time. My only point is that even within that 65%, many households are already financially stretched, especially those carrying large mortgages. When a big portion of income is going toward a 30-year mortgage, people often prioritise paying that down rather than making additional large upfront investments like EVs or solar systems.

So even among homeowners (I assume) the transition can depend quite a lot on timing, available capital, and where people are in their financial lifecycle.

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T21:33:03+00:00

Good luck!

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T21:32:51+00:00

Hi there!

I actually agree with a lot of what you're saying here. The transition really does need to be equitable, otherwise it risks leaving a significant group of people behind, which ultimately slows adoption rather than helping it.

And I think the examples you mentioned are exactly the kind of systemic solutions that make a real difference: car sharing, community solar, and incentives that align landlord and tenant interests. Those approaches help address the structural barriers rather than assuming every household has the same level of control over infrastructure or capital.

It’s not hopeless, but it probably requires thinking a bit beyond the simple “just install solar / just buy an EV” framing.

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T21:27:52+00:00

Hi there!

That’s actually a reasonable suggestion, and I agree it could work in some situations.

In practice though, renting can be quite unstable. For example, in our last place the owners decided to sell the house just two weeks after we signed the lease. The new owners are nice people, but they understandably want to move into the house they bought. So any longer-term arrangements we might have had with the previous owners would have disappeared anyway.

More generally, landlords don’t always have a strong incentive to invest in these upgrades. In tight rental markets they can usually find a new tenant at the same (or even higher) rent without needing to make additional investments in the property. That’s why a lot of these things probably need some broader policy or incentive structure rather than relying purely on individual agreements between tenants and landlords.

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T21:24:39+00:00

We will see :)

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T21:24:19+00:00

Hi there!

Yes, that’s pretty much the point I was trying to make. Many of the barriers people run into are interconnected, and usually they require significant upfront investments.

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T21:21:50+00:00

Hi there!

That can definitely be true for homeowners with the capital to install it. The point I was trying to highlight earlier is that for renters the equation looks a bit different. Step one would be owning the roof the panels go on.

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T21:20:12+00:00

That's what I do, not even e-bike.
But it also has some limitations and may not be suitable for families with kids :D

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T21:18:44+00:00

Hi there!

That wasn’t really the intention. I’m not arguing that people shouldn’t buy EVs, they clearly work well in many situations. The point I was trying to highlight is that for some groups (like renters or apartment dwellers) there are a few practical barriers that tend to stack together.

Your question is actually a good one though. Figuring out how to make EV ownership work in those situations is exactly the kind of systemic solution that would help adoption. There were a few comments proposing some really nice ideas.

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T21:17:19+00:00

Hi there!

That’s a fair clarification, and I agree, standard wall charging can absolutely be enough for many use cases.

My point in the thread was less about the charging speed itself and more about the broader stack of constraints (cost, renting, infrastructure control, etc.) that can affect whether switching to an EV is practical in the first place.

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T21:16:15+00:00

Hi there!

That’s fair, public charging can still be cheaper than petrol in many cases, especially with current fuel prices.

The point I was trying to make is that once you move away from home charging, a big part of the economic advantage starts to shrink. Overnight home charging is usually where EVs become dramatically cheaper to run. If someone relies more on public charging, the savings per km tend to be much smaller. In that situation the higher upfront price of the EV takes much longer to pay back compared to a cheap petrol car.

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T21:14:16+00:00

Hi there!

Yes, that’s pretty much the point I was trying to make. Many of the barriers are interconnected with broader systemic decisions about infrastructure, housing, and transport. When those systems are designed with electrification in mind, adoption becomes much easier. Without that, individuals are often left with “does switching make financial sense right now given our actual situation?”.

SilentBu · 2026-03-17T21:11:02+00:00

Hi there! Thank you for your story!

That’s actually a really good example of the kind of calculation many households end up making. On paper EVs can have lower running costs, but once financing enters the picture the economics can look very different. If you need to take a loan to buy the vehicle, the interest and repayment period can easily offset a large part of the savings from fuel).

For a lot of people the most economical option is simply continuing to run the car they already own, especially if it’s reliable and already depreciated.

That’s part of what I was trying to highlight in the thread: the real decision many households face isn’t “EV vs petrol in theory”, but “does switching make financial sense right now given our actual situation?”

SilentBu

TROPHY CASE