Sciences at University of Otago

28/05/2026

🎶 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.

“We were studying environmental science and thought it would be cool to have a name that reflected that. I had a poster with the names of mushrooms, and one was from the amanita genus,” says guitar player and Ecology student Iván Fernandez.

🎸 Recording the single was made possible after Ammonita won OUSA’s annual band competition, Bring the Noise, in October last year. The prize package included Radio One promotion, a music video, and the recording of a single at Sublime Studios in the Waitaki Valley. Kia mau te wehi!

“We had no expectations, but lo and behold, we made it to the finals and we won. We put our hearts out there, and people liked it.”

✨ Ka nui te mihi kia koe Zoe, Karl, Iván, Mason and Paige – we wish you all the best for both your science studies and your music careers.

Read the full story here: https://www.otago.ac.nz/about/news/newsroom/heartbreak-and-squid-inspire-debut-single-from-award-winning-band

Ecology Programme, University of Otago Marine Science Otago

27/05/2026

🦤 What is ‘de-extinction’, and how could emerging technologies be used to save threatened species from extinction?

🦖 Tautoko Associate Professor Nic Rawlence, Director of the Otago Palaeogenetics Laboratory, who's done a deep dive into the topic in this article on The Conversation.

🔗 You can read the full story here: https://theconversation.com/de-extinction-company-says-its-made-an-artificial-egg-if-true-it-could-help-save-living-species-283138

Zoology Department, University of Otago - new

Colossal Biosciences’ artificial egg technology would deliver a useful tool for the conservation of threatened birds, but only if it’s made publicly available.

26/05/2026

🥇 The Ulrich Memorial Medal was first awarded in 1902, in honour of the late Professor Ulrich, Otago’s Professor of Mining from 1878 to 1900.

🌱 A former student of Ulrich’s, Edward Dunn, said he could “testify to his helpfulness to those who desired to learn. His influence will remain long after those who came into direct contact with him have departed.”

🫶 Edward was right, and 124 years later Ulrich continues to have a positive impact on Otago tauira, including Katie Melgren, the recipient of this year’s medal.

🪨 The award, which consists of a newly minted bronze medal and a cash prize, is given annually to the best student studying mineralogy in Geology classes at 200-level.

💕 Katie says, “I’m so grateful to have received the Ulrich Memorial Medal award, and very honoured to be the first recipient of the physical medal in so many years. It’s a wonderful testament to the staff and cohort that have helped me along the way.”

🏅 Katie’s in good company – an inaugural recipient of the medal, James Allan Thomson, went on to become New Zealand’s first Rhodes scholar. And in 1992, the prize was won by Professor Ulrich’s great-grandson, Sam Ulrich.

🎉 Ka nui te mihi kia koe, Katie – we're sure your future will be as bright as your gleaming new medal.

📸 Photo of Katie Melgren by Jae Oldham.

Otago Geology - University of Otago, New Zealand

24/05/2026

🥇 Tautoko Elena Piere, a PhD candidate working across Human Nutrition, Food Science and Management, whose ‘Waste less, care more: Reducing food waste in aged residential care’ project won the Research Excellence Award at the WasteMINZ Awards on Tuesday night! Ka rawe!

🥗 As part of the project, 14 aged care facilities co-designed and tested a food waste reduction toolkit over six months. Simple changes saw a 24 per cent reduction in kai waste, keeping more than 13 tonnes out of landfill.

🌱 “Imagine what that number could be if every aged care provider in NZ started using the toolkit to reduce their food waste!” Elena says.

🤝 “Our project demonstrates what’s possible when collaboration occurs at scale, with researchers, industry and government coming together to tackle a problem."

🫶"It's also a testament to all the incredible staff we worked with – kitchen and caregiving staff, village and sustainability managers, and our industry partner the Retirement Village Association.”

🍒 “I am really excited that the aged care sector now has a practical, evidence-based toolkit to help reduce food waste that they can take, adapt and embed into their standard operations.”

🎉 Kia mau te wehi – we're thrilled to see Elena making a positive difference.

📸 Photo L-R: Associate Professor Paula O’Kane (Department of Management), Ms Elena Piere, Dr Sara Styles (Department of Human Nutrition) and Professor Sheila Skeaff (Department of Human Nutrition).

👏 You can read more about the project here: https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroom/waste-less,-care-more-toolkit-launches

Department of Human Nutrition, University of Otago University of Otago Business School

23/05/2026

🐻 From completing her Rescue Diver certification to hiking alongside grizzly bears while on a Tūrangawaewae Pōkai Whenua Indigenous Exchange to the University of British Columbia, Alex Ogilvie (Te Arawa, Ngāti Awa) has a lot to be proud of in her time at the University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka.

👩‍🎓 👩‍🎓 Alex graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Science on 16 May, the moment being extra special as her twin sister Catrin received a Bachelor of Sciences with Honours in Microbiology on the same day.

🫶 “It’s nice to be able to reach this milestone and celebrate it together,” Alex says.

🐬 Alex enjoyed her marine science, freshwater ecology, conservation biology and indigenous development papers.

🌊 “They covered the natural environment and ecological systems, an area I want to work in. Maybe one day I will be able to combine my science and dive training in a professional capacity.”

💕 Ka nui te mihi kia koe Alex and Catrin – we wish you all the best for the future.

https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroom/double-celebrations-for-twin-graduates

Zoology Department, University of Otago - new Ecology Programme, University of Otago

From helping the fight against tuberculosis to representing New Zealand in sport and creating lifelong connections along the way, twins Catrin and Alex Ogilvie (Te Arawa, Ngāti Awa) have a lot to be proud of in their time at the University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka.

22/05/2026

👏 Tautoko Dr Ashleigh Barrett-Young, of the Department of Psychology, whose mahi has uncovered another clue to potentially identifying Alzheimer's disease early.

🧠 Researchers investigated a specific biomarker in blood plasma, ptau181, which has been shown in other studies to be strongly associated with Alzheimer’s disease in later life.

⌛ Ashleigh says while further research is needed, the findings add to the growing evidence that Alzheimer’s-related processes may begin decades before clinical symptoms appear.

“This means there may be an important window for prevention, which remains one of the most promising approaches for Alzheimer's disease,” she says.

🩷 Kā mihi nui to Ashleigh for this important research.

https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroom/finding-the-early-signs-of-alzheimers-disease

of Psychology, University of Otago

New research from the University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka has uncovered another clue to potentially identifying Alzheimer's disease early.

21/05/2026

🫶 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.

🐳 When the Smithsonian Institution’s Nick Pyenson promised to reunite the fantastically heavy fossil with a jaw and skull fragment held by his department, he wasn’t sure how he was going to make it happen. But he knew he couldn’t let the late Otago Professor Ewan Fordyce down. After all, Ewan not only fostered Nick’s love of whale fossils – he also changed the trajectory of Nick’s career.

“I came to New Zealand from the US as a graduate student in 2005. I spent a summer studying the evolution of whale feeding at the University of Otago, and Ewan was my advisor,” Nick says. “I’ve considered him a mentor ever since.”

🪨 The two men’s lives were intertwined because of one long-dead animal: an eight-metre, sharp-toothed, 34-million-year-old Llanocetus denticrenatus, a distant ancestor of today’s humpback, blue, and other baleen whales.

🩷 Palaeontologist Emeritus Professor Daphne Lee, Ewan’s colleague for forty years, says, “I am extremely grateful for the work that Nick and his team have carried out in close collaboration with Palaeontology Lab Manager and Collections Manager Sophie White, ORCA manager Bob Dagg, and the students and staff in the Geology Department. Ewan would have been pleased to see that the long migration of this exceptionally important whale back and forth across the Pacific is about to be completed.”

🙌 Congratulations to everyone who’s played a part in this important mahi. Kia mau te wehi!

https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroom/antarctic-whale-flies-to-smithsonian

Otago Geology - University of Otago, New Zealand

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

🥇 🥇 Kia mau te wehi! Professor Craig Rodger, of the Department of Physics, has won the International Union of Radio Science’s (URSI) Karl Rawer Gold Medal. Ka rawe! 🥇🥇

🚀 Craig was recognised for his internationally-influential research in space weather and near-Earth plasma physics, particularly the interaction between radiation-belt particles and the Earth’s atmosphere, which has implications for satellite systems, communications, and technological infrastructure.

🌞 His expertise has also been crucial to the New Zealand electricity industry, helping to protect the power grid during weather events such as solar storms.

💕 Professor Rodger is thrilled to be just the second New Zealand scientist to win a senior URSI award, after astrophysicist and space scientist, the late Sir Ian Axford, won the URSI Appleton Prize in 1969.

“He was a global science giant whom I met when I was an early career researcher when he was late in life. Being linked to such a mighty Kiwi, who did great science, worked hard for the international science community and education in New Zealand, and was also cool, is such a deep honour,” Craig says.

👏 Congratulations, Craig - Ka nui te mihi kia koe.

https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroom/award-winning-otago-space-physicist-joins-mighty-kiwi

PhysicsOtago

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.

20/05/2026

🏈 Before alumnus 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.

🧑‍🏫 Will is now Senior Lecturer in Physical Education and the Director of Physical Education at the University of Exeter in Devon, and it’s in recognition of his contributions as a kaiako that he has received his many accolades.

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

🏅 Kā mihi nui, Will – it was fantastic to catch up recently and hear about all your incredible achievements.

https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroom/taking-te-ao-maori-to-devon

School of Physical Education Sport & Exercise Sciences, University of 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.

19/05/2026

🍄 🌵 Back in the day, studying psychedelics, mescaline and the paranormal could tank your career – as psychiatrist Dr Ian Stevenson discovered.

👻 Professor Jesse Bering’s new biography, ‘The Incredible Afterlives of Dr Stevenson’, tells the tale of an academic who travelled the globe investigating cases of reincarnation, apparitions, possessions, and near-death experiences.

🏅 The publication is the latest in a series of books and articles by Jesse, who’s an accomplished science communicator. As the Head of the Science Communication Programme, he shares the tricks of the trade with tauira.

📕 “A lot of people have a science story to tell. In the Science Communication programme, we can help them find that story,” Jesse says.

🥳 Congratulations Jesse on your spookily good new book - ka nui te mihi kia koe!

https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroom/sex,-death-and-science-communication

Department of Psychology, University of Otago

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.

18/05/2026

🙌 Tautoko Rāwinia Wikaira, who’s graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Science majoring in Māori Studies and Ecology 🎉

💕 “This is a really unique degree, and the two conjoint majors complement each other so well,” Rāwinia says.

🦞 “Many aspects of Te Ao Māori centre around conservation and the intergenerational transmission of taonga (treasures), one of these being the preservation of sustainable food sources (mahinga kai) and landscapes for uri (descendants).”

⛵ Rāwinia won a special Māori graduate bursary to be the first New Zealander to join UK-based company eXXpedition’s project, which seeks to better understand where plastic pollution that ends up in the ocean has come from. She finished the voyage just in time to cross the stage for graduation.

🫶 Ka nui te mihi kia koe, Rāwinia – wishing you all the best for the future 🥳

Zoology Department, University of Otago - new Ecology Programme, University of Otago

When your personal philosophy is to seize every opportunity that comes your way, life tends to be busy.