University of Otago

30/05/2026

When science students turn their studies into an alt-metal band 👀 🎸

Ammonita is made up of five student musicians, with the band name originally inspired by a mushroom poster 🍄

“We changed the spelling a bit so that it also looks like ammonite, which is basically a fossilised prehistoric squid,” says guitarist Mason O’Connell.

Ammonita’s debut single “Walnut” is out now on all streaming platforms. Their EP is set for release in Semester Two 🎶

Read more about the award-winning band here ⬇️

Five-piece alternative rock metal band Ammonita, who release their debut single 'Walnut' on all major streaming platforms today, had a world of possible band names at their fingertips thanks to their Science studies.

29/05/2026

Otago tauira Adine Russell is used to defying expectations ❤️🎓

Adine – who recently graduated with a Bachelor of Science – faced more than the usual challenges when it came to getting her degree.

“I’m one of the youngest and one of very few people in New Zealand diagnosed with Kearns-Sayre syndrome (KSS),” Adine says.

Read more about Adine here ⬇️

As Adine Russell bites into a chocolate chip cookie, she explains that lay people often get food science and nutrition confused.

28/05/2026

28/05/2026

Three years. One wall. Countless bullseyes 🎯

Otago’s Archery Club can finally make use of its new indoor archery wall after three years of fundraising efforts 🏹

A quiz-night fundraiser with two anonymous donations gave just the final push needed to complete the wall.

“No one comes to Otago for archery, but what makes Otago Otago is the friendships and the clubs,” Club President Charlie Boocock-Yee says ❤️🥹

Read more about the Archery Club here ⬇️

Otago’s Archery Club is used to aiming at targets, and this year they’ve hit the big one – a new, purpose-built indoor archery wall.

28/05/2026

Exam season is here and we’re LOCKING IN 😤

Thanks to bestie Ryan from x

26/05/2026

From rare to research to results🔬✨

Meet the Research Alliance for Rare Illness Translation Pathways (RARITY), a group seeking to connect research with real-world applications for the rare disease community 💪🧠

"New Zealand has strong capability across fundamental research, clinical care, and advocacy, but these efforts are often not well connected or aligned toward real-world outcomes for patients and their whānau,” says RARITY Director Professor Stephanie Hughes.

Read more about this important research here ⬇️

One Otago research alliance is determined to bridge the gap between research and real-world application for the rare disease community.

22/05/2026

Wow! More than $6700 raised for the Cancer Society 🌻💛🤩

A massive thanks to the wonderful students at our colleges who took part in this year's Ōtepoti Relay for Life. A special shout-out to Arana and Studholme Colleges, who joined forces and earned both a top-five fundraising ranking and the 'Spirit of Relay' award 🥇

Students took turns walking or running over 12 consecutive hours, on top of creative fundraising activities like TikTok dance challenges and water bombing their student presidents ✨

Read more here ⬇️

https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroom/college-spirit-on-show-for-cancer-fundraiser

22/05/2026

What's sharp toothed, eight-metres long and 34-million-years old? 🐳

It's the enormous whale fossil currently on a 14,500km journey to the Smithsonian Institution in Los Angeles to be reunited with its missing jaw and skull fragment 🦴

Previously housed within the Otago Geology Department, it was the wish of the late Professor Ewan Fordyce to see the skull reunited with its missing pieces. This tremendous work has been picked up by his former student Nick Pyenson of the Smithsonian Institution.

“It’s been a group effort from both sides of the Pacific, and if it helps inspire the next generation, that’s the best possible outcome," Nick says.

Read more about this incredible story here ⬇️

It’s not every day you get to fulfil your mentor’s final wish – particularly when it involves transporting an enormous whale fossil 14,500km from a Dunedin basement to Washington DC.

21/05/2026

This Professor has won an out-of-this-world award 🏅✨

Professor Craig Rodger, from the Department of Physics, has won the International Union of Radio Science’s (URSI) Karl Rawer Gold Medal for his work in space weather and near-Earth plasma physics 🪐🔭

His expertise has been crucial for New Zealand's electricity industry, helping protect the power grid during weather events such as solar storms 🌟

Read more about Craig's amazing work here ⬇️

A University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka space physicist is following in the footsteps of a “global science giant” as just the second person from Aotearoa New Zealand to receive an award from an international science organisation.

19/05/2026

This Professor has a curiosity for the remarkable and rare 🧑‍🏫✨

Head of the Science Communication Programme within the Department of Psychology, Professor Jesse Bering has a passion for getting people to engage in his work 📚

This includes his new book, 'The Incredible Afterlives of Dr Stevenson,' a biography about a travelling psychiatrist who investigates all things paranormal 🕵️‍♂️

“I look into controversial, taboo topics, because when you address them in a scientific, amoral fashion, you can learn a lot,” Jesse says.

Read more about Jesse's new book here ⬇️

With book titles including Perv, Suicidal and Why is the P***s Shaped Like That?, Professor Jesse Bering, Head of the Science Communication Programme within the Department of Psychology, has a knack for getting people to engage with his work.

19/05/2026

From Otago spark to Olympic flame 🔥🏉

Otago alumnus Will Katene has gone from dreaming of becoming a PE teacher to leading physical education at the University of Exeter in the UK 🇬🇧

“I wouldn’t be where I am now if it wasn’t for those two years I spent at Otago undertaking my Masters.”

Read more about Will's exceptional career and recent visit to Otago 👇

Before Will Katene (Ngāti Toarangatira te iwi) became an Olympic torchbearer, a finalist for UK New Zealander of the Year and a recipient of the UK’s National Teaching Fellowship Award, he was just a sports-mad kid from Hamilton.