A meeting of bright young minds

This is what you might call a very high-powered lunch.

Eight young Otago alumni, all at either the University of Oxford or Cambridge, gathered for a young alumni event in Oxford recently, sharing their research and swapping stories of their student days at Otago.

These trailblazing young graduates have scooped numerous prestigious scholarships to complete PhDs and postdoctoral studies in two of the world’s leading universities.

From astrophysics to archaeology, theoretical physics to psychology, genetics to neuroscience, they’re all directing their very enquiring minds to some of society’s biggest challenges and questions.

The lunch was co-hosted at Merton College by Otago’s Vice-Chancellor Hon Grant Robertson and distinguished Otago alumnus and cardiac neurobiologist Professor David Paterson, who is head of the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics and a Fellow of Merton College at Oxford. Also attending was Otago’s Director of Development and Alumni Relations, Shelagh Murray.

As well as sharing the research they were undertaking, the lunch was an opportunity for the alumni to connect with their Otago peers and hear about recent developments and future plans at the University.

Professor Paterson, who graduated from Otago with a Diploma in Physical Education in 1979, completed his own doctoral studies in physiological science at the University of Oxford in 1989. He now leads a cardiac neurobiology research team, and was conferred with an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Otago in May this year.

The Vice-Chancellor says the lunch was one of the highlights of the Otago alumni events held in the UK in September.

“It was wonderful to meet these amazing young graduates and hear about their passion for their research, which has taken them from undergraduates at Otago, to highly sought-after postgraduate positions at two of the highest-ranking universities in the world.

“They are all working for the good of the community and for our wellbeing, in Aotearoa and around the globe. They’re also an inspiration to their peers and illustrate the opportunities that open up with a world-class education from Otago.”

Co-organiser of the event, Oxford PhD student Joseph Balfe, says the lunch was a unique chance to get everyone together from Oxford and Cambridge, and it made him “even more proud to be from Otago”.

“Despite our small group, there was such a wonderful diversity of discipline and research presented, which I think is a clear reflection of Otago's wide range of opportunities and high-quality education.”

He says that given most of those gathered had only just arrived in the United Kingdom, it was touching being able to meet up with fellow Kiwis and feeling back at home.

"I think maintaining such strong connections with Otago from the other side of the world is a testament to the strength of our alumni network, and it makes me excited for future collaborations with Otago."

The other co-organiser of the event, Dr Lachie Scarsbrook, was an apology for the lunch as he got married that weekend. Lachie is a geneticist and received his DPhil from Oxford last year and is now a postdoctoral researcher.

In her presentation at the lunch, PhD candidate Petra Fisher says studying computer science, physics and space research at Otago led her to an internship at Rocket Lab, Fusion research at OpenStar Technologies and a PhD in Physics at Cambridge.

“Otago provided me with the skills to pursue impactful high-tech R&D roles in academia and industry, and many more Otago students can do the same.”

Shelagh says it was inspiring to meet such a wonderful group of young graduates, all of whom are at the cutting edge of their fields.

“They are making their mark and making a difference in each of their areas,” she says.

“We are very proud that Otago has provided the grounding across so many different disciplines, to launch their studies at these prestigious institutions.

“It was also special to see how they remain connected to Otago, through their studies and the academics who encouraged and supported them, and also through the friendships they made and the student experience they had at Otago.”

Young Otago alumni at the Oxford event:

Joseph Balfe (MSc (Dist) Neuroscience 2024, MusB 2019)

Joseph was awarded the Clarendon Scholarship earlier this year, to study for his PhD in Psychiatry at the University of Oxford.

His passion for neuroscience was initially sparked by a concern for mental health, which was magnified through noticing mental health issues during his work as a sub-warden in the residential colleges at Otago.

Joseph is based in Oxford’s Translational Neurostimulation Laboratory, where he will be investigating a novel form of brain stimulation for the treatment of depression.

While he was at Otago, his passion for non-invasive wearable technologies to treat health disorders won him the 2024 Falling Walls Lab Aotearoa New Zealand pitch competition, for his project to develop a wearable smart-device to detect and relieve asthma attacks.

Joseph is also a professional musician, including being a  lead guitarist for a variety of collaborative productions and events in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Petra Fisher (BSc (Hons) Physics)

Also a recipient of a Woolf Fisher Scholarship in 2024, Petra is studying for a PhD at Cambridge.

Her research will focus on Computational Physics, developing simulations to model spacecraft re-entry.

Looking ahead to 2040, Petra envisions New Zealand as a hub for space technology and research.

“The potential of space sciences within New Zealand is very exciting, and I believe it will be an incredibly important field for Aotearoa. I look forward to spearheading future initiatives within space research and education, with an additional focus on championing women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and students from rural, low-decile schools.”

Alexander Matthews (BSc Data Science and Neuroscience 2023, BSc (Hons) Neuroscience 2024)

Alexander was awarded a Woolf Fisher Scholarship in 2024, and is completing a PhD in Neuroscience at Cambridge, focusing on neural phenomena underlying anxiety. 

With an academic background in both data science and neuroscience, Alexander is combining recently developed technologies in computation and neurobiology to improve mental health outcomes. He hopes to make significant contributions to understanding anxiety by investigating the relationship between neural circuits and uncertainty processing. 

Alexander is also an accomplished musician, and a keen surfer and skier. His passion for neuroscience emerged during high school where he initiated his own independent research on behavioural treatments to improve mental health in adolescents.

“It was wonderful to catch up with such a sharp and motivated group of Otago students making it on the other side of the world. I left feeling energised and inspired by the impact of each project,” he says.

Ronan McNeill (BSc Exercise and Sport Science 2022, BA Psychology 2023, BSc (Hons) Neuroscience 2024)

Ronan was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship, William Georgetti Scholarship and the LB Wood Scholarship to attend Balliol College at Oxford, to develop advanced neuroimaging tools that could improve clinical monitoring, early detection and the effective treatment of dementia. The research will be part of his PhD at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences.

Ronan’s passion for research into dementia has been spurred by the mental decline of family members.

"I'm going over to tackle my dream project. The underlying theory is that our brain’s' immune cells and neuroinflammatory changes go horribly awry in dementia-related diseases, which is a major player behind the damage and devastation that we see.

“In order to develop treatments that effectively target this response, we need a clinically usable and non-invasive tool to visualise it. So that, fundamentally, is what we're trying to do."

Cassandra Dawson (BSc Psychology and Neuroscience 2021, BSc (Hons) Psychology 2022)

Cassandra was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship and is completing a PhD in Public Health at Cambridge, exploring socioeconomic adversity, contextual risk, and children’s mental health.

Her research interests include how such adversities impact clinical outcomes for children and young people’s mental health, with the goal of informing improvements in mental health services.

Her PhD project has two branches. The first qualitatively analyses how clinicians within Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services conceptualise and respond to insecure housing, financial insecurity, and domestic abuse.

The second component quantitatively assesses how insecure housing, acute family debt, and domestic abuse shape clinical provision for young people in contact with mental health services. This analysis aims to understand whether these socioeconomic challenges impact mental health outcomes and treatment within clinical services.

She says she would particularly like to thank Dr Olivia Harrison from Otago’s Department of Psychology for her support. “She is a huge contributor to why I was able to receive funding and attend Cambridge.”

“It was incredibly lovely to meet fellow Otago alumni in the UK and to continue building connections to home. It can sometimes be tough to navigate how returning as a researcher might look like and I thought the alumni event was a great step towards making this happen.”

Aaron Taylor (BSc Mathematics and Physics, 2023, BSc (Hons) Physics 2024)

Aaron has just moved to Cambridge, where he’s doing the Master of Advanced Studies in Theoretical Physics.

In 2023–24 he worked as a Research Assistant at the Australian National University in Canberra, focusing on dark matter detection. He’s particularly interested in quantum field theory, string theory, and their applications to the physics of black holes.

“Catching up with other Otago alumni at the Oxford lunch was a real highlight,” says Aaron.

“It was great meeting people following all kinds of paths and sharing what everyone’s been up to since Otago. Always good to find a bit of home on the other side of the world.”

Alex Hazelton (BSc (Hons) Statistics 2023)

Alex has just finished his Master of Science in Statistical Science at Oxford. For his dissertation, he used transformer models to try and predict the teams that were playing in a match to see if they had stylistic signatures.

In 2024, Alex was a Research Assistant at Otago, where he used Hidden Markov Models to try and predict earthquakes and their magnitudes.

He has also worked as a Data Analyst at Pacific Edge, which develops and commercialises non-invasive genomic biomarker tests to clinicians around the world.

“Having the opportunity to be a part of this meet-up was a great experience for me,” says Alex.

“I got to reconnect with quite a few students who I previously knew while at the University of Otago, as well as meeting some new ones. It was great to get insight into everyone’s work and to learn more about it and I am excited to see what they all go on to achieve.

“A big thank you to everyone who helped make the event happen. It was a privilege to be a part of.”

Dr Dylan Gaffney (BA (Hons) Anthropology 2013, MA Anthropology 2017)

Dylan gained his PhD from Cambridge and is now Associate Professor of Palaeolithic Archaeology at Hertford College, University of Oxford.

His research interests include human behavioural plasticity; dispersal and migration; technological processes; trade and exchange; subsistence practices; island archaeology; and tropical foraging and cultivation.

Dylan’s research examines how humans adapted to, and transformed, a variety of tropical environments in the deep past. His current project, funded by National Geographic, is exploring how the earliest populations to enter the Pacific region more than 50,000 years ago adapted to small rainforested islands on the equator. The fieldwork is taking place in the Raja Ampat Islands, at the boundary of Indonesia and New Guinea.

“It was great to meet new and established PhD candidates studying at Oxbridge,” says Dylan. “It was clear that Otago had provided the perfect foundation for their ongoing academic success.”

Also at Oxford and Cambridge:

Dr Lachie Scarsbrook (BSc Geology and Zoology 2018, MSc (Dist) Zoology 2021)

Lachie is a geneticist and received his DPhil from Oxford last year, after receiving a Clarendon Scholarship to undertake his Doctorate in Archaeological Science.

He is now a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Archaeology and is part of the Wellcome Trust Palaeogenomics and Bio-Archaeology Research Network.

“I use ancient DNA to investigate the role that humans and the environment play in shaping global animal populations.

“At the Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, my research focused on the characterisation of extinct faunal diversity in Aotearoa through morphometric and genomic analyses of pre-human subfossil remains. As part of this work, I described a new species of gecko, which was named through collaboration with local Māori iwi (Te Āti Awa).

“My current postdoctoral research is a continuation of my DPhil at Oxford, where I utilise ancient DNA to reconstruct ancestry and selection throughout the ~20,000 year evolutionary history of domestic dogs. This ranges from identifying shared coevolutionary histories of humans and dogs, to understanding the drivers and consequences of strong artificial selection in dogs over the past two centuries.”

Nerys Udy (Ngāi Tahu) (LLB (Hons) and BA 2020)

Nerys arrived at Cambridge at the end of September, after receiving three prestigious scholarships to support her aspirations for postgraduate study.

A recipient of a Borrin Foundation Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Postgraduate Scholarship, the Ethel Benjamin Scholarship and the Henry Hollond Studentship in Law at Trinity College, Nerys will undertake the LLM at Cambridge.

“I am interested in the way New Zealand’s law is evolving, which flows into an interest in the theoretical frameworks that sit behind, and seek to explain, our law.

“Cambridge is a great place to explore this as many of its papers have a strong theoretical approach, providing space to examine theoretical issues applied across a range of different areas, including in constitutional law and human rights law.”

Jacobi Kohu-Morris (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi) (LLB/BA 2021)

Jacobi was awarded a Borrin Foundation Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Postgraduate Scholarship and a Spencer Mason Travelling Scholarship in Law, in 2025.

He recently started his LLM at Cambridge, focussing on jurisprudence, constitutional theory, advanced private law and intellectual property.

Jacobi is interested in how tikanga Māori and Te Tiriti o Waitangi will continue to evolve within our legal system, particularly in the area of private law.

Looking ahead, he hopes that his LLM will serve as a platform to further a career at the civil Bar, and aspires to contribute to New Zealand through the law and advocate for both Māori and the wider community.

Caccia Armstrong (BSc/LLB (Hons) 2022)

Caccia was awarded an Ethel Benjamin Scholarship and has just begun the one-year Bachelor of Civil Law at Oxford.

She plans to deepen her understanding in the legal and political arenas of domestic and sexual violence. She aims to examine different jurisdictions' approaches to the prevention and mitigation of these issues and, consequently, contemplate how aspects of these systems could provide actionable solutions to Aotearoa's significant burden of intimate partner violence.

Hannah Short (BCom, LLB (Hons) 2020)

Hannah also began her LLM studies at Cambridge this year and was a recipient of the Spencer Mason Travelling Scholarship in Law in 2025.

Her focus is on international dispute resolution, advanced obligations and remedies, the law of restitution for unjust enrichment, and intellectual property.

She was previously a Junior Barrister at Shortland Chambers in Auckland, a Judge’s Clerk at the Court of Appeal, and a graduate teaching assistant and tutor at the University of Auckland, Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Otago.

Scott McSorley (BA Politics 2016)

Scott began his MPhil in Conservation Leadership at Cambridge this year, having received the 'John and Angela' Studentship from Selwyn College (Cambridge).

A passionate conservationist, Scott is also working as the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition's global Seamount Campaign co-ordinator. He previously worked for the New Zealand government in international oceans and fisheries policy, and has held campaign leadership roles in NGOs at the heart of New Zealand’s environmental movement.

Scott is looking forward to deepening his knowledge of best-practice conservation at Cambridge, while meeting other emerging leaders in the sector. He also looks forward to deepening his passion for the natural world that was first sparked at Otago.

– Kōrero by Margie Clark, Communications adviser, Development and Alumni Office